Description: Hadi and Sama are a young Syrian couple flying high on a whirlwind love, dreaming up a life in the country that brought them together. She had come to Boston years before chasing dreams of a bigger life; he'd landed there as a sponsored refugee from a bloody civil war. Now, they are giddily awaiting the birth of their son, a boy whose native language would be freedom and belonging. When Sama is five months pregnant, Hadi's father dies suddenly in Jordan, the night before his visa appointment at the embassy. Hadi flies back for the funeral, promising his wife that he'll only be gone for a few days. On the day his flight is due to arrive in Boston, Sama is waiting for him at the airport, eager to bring him back home. But as the minutes and then hours pass, she continues to wait, unaware that Hadi has been stopped at the border and detained for questioning, trapped in a timeless, nightmarish limbo.
Brief description: Yara Zgheib is the author of No Land to Light On and the critically acclaimed The Girls at 17 Swann Street, which was a People Pick for Best New Books and a BookMovement Group Read. She is a Fulbright scholar with a master's degree in security studies from Georgetown University and a PhD in international affairs in diplomacy from Centre d'Études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques in Paris. Learn more at YaraZgheib.com.
Review Quotes:
"This audiobook will stay with you long after you finish listening. A talented team of narrators...are pitch-perfect in capturing the precariousness of the time. A must-listen!"
-- "AudioFile"