It is 2011 and Nour's Syrian-American family is still mourning the loss three months ago of her father who died as a result of cancer. At 11, Nour is the youngest of her siblings and sees and hears the world in colors, a condition known as synesthesia. Her mother's angry voice is red; she misses her father's caramel and brown voice.As their finances suffer, Nour's mother decides to take her family back to Syria and family there. They settle in Homs, a city initially far away from the fighting in the rest of the country. But when a bomb hits their neighborhood, destroying their home and severely injuring her oldest sister, Huda, Nour and her family become refugees.
As they work their way through Syria on their way to safety, Nour and her family face unknown challenges. But always, Nour remembers the many stories her Baba shared with her before he died, particularly the story of Rawiya - a twelfth century girl who disguised herself as a boy in order to apprentice herself to a famous mapmaker.
I won't lie. This book was difficult for me to read. But oh so rewarding in the end. Written from Nour's point-of-view, we only know what she sees and understands. I felt so much empathy for Nour that it was hard for me to deal with the many challenges she and her family faced as they fled their home.
If you are at all interested in the reasons people flee their homeland, this book will help you understand just a little bit of what they go through.
Click for availability.
No comments:
Post a Comment