BACK TO BAGHDAD ; First-Time Author Tamara Chalabi Is at This Month's Festival of Asian Literature to Talk about Her Memoir of an Iraqi Family in Exile. Her First Visit to the Old Country Left Her 'In a State of Shock', She Tells Nosheen Iqbal

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BEIRUT-born Tamara Chalabi, 36-year-old historian and firsttime literary author, is perched gracefully on a Soho House sofa, explaining how she came to be writing a book about one of Iraq's most controversial, powerful and wealthiest families -- her own, that is. Late for Tea at the Deer Palace: The Lost Dreams of My Iraqi Family is Tamara's insider account of more than 150 years of Iraq, from the moneyed perspective of the country's ruling class. Unsurprisingly, the Chalabis, a political dynasty exiled from Baghdad for 40 years, are no strangers to scandal: ousted several times over from their luxurious homes, vilified for their influential support of a British-imposed Iraqi …