This book chronicles a Lebanese immigrant experience -- based on a cache of more than 200 letters discovered after the death of the author's mother. The tale begins with the kidnapping of the author's grandmother from a remote convent in 1895. It chronicles her subsequent unhappy marriage and her husband's tragic attempt to find success in America. Their particular story plays out against the struggle and suffering of the Lebanese people through years of oppressive Ottoman rule and the ravages of World War I. Employing traditional Lebanese proverbs and folk tales, "Kisses from a Distance" weaves the author's extensive research and visits to Lebanon into a compelling narrative.