Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this amazing book by Yara Zgheib, author of the wonderful book, The Girls at 17 Swann Street (must read!) - 5 stars for a beautifully written look into one couple's story of immigration.
Hadi and Sama are a young Syrian couple who met when both came to the US to escape the war in their country and to have hope for a better future. Sama received a scholarship to Harvard; Hadi was sponsored by a lawyer and his family as a refugee. They get married and are anxiously awaiting the birth of their son when Hadi receives news that his father has died as his parents awaited a visa appointment at the embassy. On his return to Boston, with Sama waiting for him at the airport, he is stopped from reentering the US due to a new executive order.
I thought this was such an emotional look at the immigration/refugee story that is always in the headlines. Beautifully written, it is heartbreaking on so many levels. No matter what your political leanings, global news stories broken down into personal ones never fail to make you really think. It's easy to gloss over and look at the big picture but there was so much sadness in this book that you can't help but extrapolate it into so many real peoples' lives. Despite all that, it is also a story of hope - don't miss it! After these two books, I'm so looking forward to more from this author!
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