LOST In BEIRUT: A True Story of Love, Loss and War by Ashe Stevens & Magdalena Stevens – Travel Memoirs, Survival Biographies, Lebanon

Seeking to “fill his vessel with the truth,” young Ashe Stevens joins his friends on a thrilling adventure beyond the safety of his comfortable American life to chase stardom in Beirut, Lebanon.

Leaving behind a raucous life of plenty in Hollywood – complete with hot dates, popularity, and financial success – to the unknown of the Middle East teaches Ashe to prioritize his values and beliefs. But nothing could prepare him for what’s coming next.

Journey with Ashe and his friends as they bring the rapper 50 Cent to Beirut, the “Paris of the Middle East.” Along the way, Ashe dates not one, but two drop-dead gorgeous billionaires and falls head over heels for a blonde beauty to whom he promises to devote his life. But just as business is booming and true love reaches the height of bliss, the Israeli military bombs their beautiful city, “weaving a tapestry of death all over the night sky.” The team barely makes it out with their lives in a harrowing escape, leaving their love and livelihoods behind.

Before disaster hits, Ashe reevaluates his life in Beirut, slowly beginning the necessary work of “finding his circus,” drawing on the lessons of his friend and mentor, Roger Henderson.

Loosening his confidence in the United States’ supreme power and security, prioritizing loyalty and love over wealth, and expanding the horizons of his cultural imagination allow him to find safety in himself and accept the reality of the disaster that “washes away his elaborate dreams.”

Just as Ashe develops over the course of his life-changing adventure, those around him unfold with intricate depth. Readers will find themselves sympathizing, loving, protesting, and falling apart as they unspool each person’s threads. Personalities such as the eccentric Danny, the wise Roger Henderson, and the lovable criminal Marwan shape a colorful narrative that feels as real as flesh.

The narrative does tend to prioritize the complexity of its male characters over that of the women. Women’s personalities go unexplored and tied inextricably to the narrative-shaping men who either love or resent them. Ashe complains about his new rich date waiting for him in the car, and his friends exert a patriarchal command over the women in their lives: “‘Make sure you look hot tonight, Sana,’” says Danny to his girlfriend, “‘Okay, my love. I would never disappoint you,’” she meekly replies.

Even so, the memoir’s rhythm of adventure will sustain readers’ devoted attention.

Each chapter heading offers a curious epigraph, which slowly merges together with the others as pieces of a puzzle. Silky smooth transitions lose readers in the vivid imagery and fast-paced movement of the story, such as the “blazing-white sunshine amid the clusters of cars, repetitious horn sounds and the loud chatter of the city.” Ashe navigating the rich culture of Beirut and its new social rules immerses readers in the magic of travel and its potential to deepen the soul.

Overall, Lost in Beirut is a romping adventure full of love, war, and sacrifice.

Religious division, the mysteries of love and lust, hidden secrets of political violence, loss and recovery, and life-like characters pull readers beneath the surface tension of the page. As Ashe reflects on his experience in theater class: “We all look the same, leaving the phantom zone. Lost in our own bodies.” In the same way, Lost in Beirut will lose readers in its trance-like narrative where beauty and ruin melt into each other in a seamless dream-turned-nightmare.

Lost in Beirut won Grand Prize in the 2022 CIBA Military and Front Line Awards for Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir.