This World

Lyse tracks the first months of the uprising through to the chemical attack in Ghouta that finally revealed the reluctance of the US to intervene in the war, despite the crossing of President Obama's `red line' on chemical weapons.

As Raqqa falls to a mixture of Islamist and moderate forces, the story of the extraordinary events of the following months is told by two characters. One is a protester who aims to build a new civil society based on democracy, the other is a torture victim who joins the Islamists as a hired assas...