A powerful investigation into the plight of the remaining Christians in the Middle East by the multi-award-winning journalist described as 'one of our generation's finest foreign correspondents' (Daily Telegraph)

**Longlisted Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing** 'A tragic portrait of a disappearing world, created with passion and literary grace' SALMAN RUSHDIE ‘Janine di Giovanni is a humane and persistent witness’ HISHAM MATAR 'Profoundly moving' MARK TULLY _______________________ The Vanishing reveals the plight and possible extinction of Christian communities across Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine after 2,000 years in their historical homeland. Some of the countries that first nurtured and characterized Christianity - along the North African Coast, on the Euphrates and across the Middle East and Arabia - are the ones in which it is likely to first go extinct. Christians are already vanishing. We are past the tipping point, now tilted toward the end of Christianity in its historical homeland. Christians have fled the lands where their prophets wandered, where Jesus Christ preached, where the great Doctors and hierarchs of the early church established the doctrinal norms that would last millennia. From Syria to Egypt, the cities of northern Iraq to the Gaza Strip, ancient communities, the birthplaces of prophets and saints, are losing any living connection to the religion that once was such a characteristic feature of their social and cultural lives. In The Vanishing, Janine di Giovanni has combined astonishing journalistic work to discover the last traces of small, hardy communities where ancient rituals are quietly preserved amid 360 degree threats. Full of faith and hope, di Giovanni's riveting personal stories make a unique act of pre-archeology: the last chance to visit the living religion before all that will be left are the stones of the past.

"Janine di Giovanni, a former winner of the Courage in Journalism prize, is a shining example of the dwindling band of investigative reporters" - independent.co.uk

"di Giovanni brings a compassionate perspective to her narrative, interweaving complex, sometimes dense history with evocative vignettes and interviews" - Economist

"Extraordinary ... di Giovanni has a fine way of capturing landscapes and people" - Spectator

"Janine di Giovanni, a former winner of the Courage in Journalism prize, is a shining example of the dwindling band of investigative reporters" - independent.co.uk

"Each book of hers should be required reading … In addition to contextualising the conflicts, Janine shared the human stories … She exposes what we find so hard to confront in humanity" - Tablo, The Secret Life of Writers

"Moving and insightful" - Catholic Herald

"The Vanishing is unique because di Giovanni is not seeking a solution, and indeed knows there may not be one. As a war reporter for 30 years she knows the reality of man ... I like The Vanishing because it’s true, and people in the West need to read the truth, even if they don’t like it and can’t do anything about it" - First Things

"Praise for Janine di Giovanni: It is crucial to reveal the human stories behind the news - and Janine di Giovanni does this with heartbreaking eloquence" - Financial Times

"Like the work of the Belarussian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich, Ms. di Giovanni’s book gives voice to ordinary people living through a dark time in history" - New York Times

"Such reporters as Giovanni, who not only visit but also live (and often die) through wars not their own, are heroic" - Guardian

"Few writers can match her evocations of individual suffering in wartime" - Newsweek

"Compelling reportage at its best" - Economist

"Read this book and you may begin to understand what war looks and feels like" - Spectator