First published 2019
In 2002 New York, young editor Alice enters into a relationship with Ezra Blazer, a celebrated writer significantly older than herself. Six years later at Heathrow Airport, Amar, an Iraqi-American economist traveling to visit his brother in Iraq, finds himself detained and forced to spend the final weekend of the year in an unclaimed waiting area between countries. Lisa Halliday weaves these seemingly unconnected stories into an extraordinary novel that examines the imbalances that shape our lives. The book explores how power operates across divides of youth and age, equality and injustice, West and Middle East, chance and talent. Through alternately comic and heartbreaking narration, Halliday reveals what we do to carve out space for ourselves in such an uneven world.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, relationships, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, power-imbalance
Setting: Heathrow Airport, Iraq, New York
Period: 2002, 2008
272 pages · Paperback · Domingo Yayınevi