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About Picture in the Sand

Ali Hassan, an Egyptian-American businessman in Brooklyn, reveals a secret past of activism and heartbreak in an attempt to keep his hot-headed teenaged grandson from making the greatest mistake of his life. In a journey that begins amid the high-wattage glamour of the sets of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments and leads to the deserts of Cairo and beyond, Ali describes how he landed a dream job as DeMille’s personal assistant and then found himself enmeshed in events that changed the course of history. It’s a tale that Ali has kept hidden most of his life. But now there’s an urgent reason to share it: his beloved American grandson, Alex, has run off to Syria to become a holy warrior. Alex says this journey is his destiny. Ali understands better than Alex believes and knows that rescuing Alex is up to him—because Ali knows how this movie can end. With equal parts suspense, history, and family drama, Picture in the Sand is a mesmerizing story about faith, family, and the enduring power of storytelling.