by Hisham Matar
First published 2007
Suleiman walks through a blazing Tripoli marketplace with his mother during the summer of 1979. The nine-year-old catches sight of a familiar figure in dark sunglasses across the street. His father should be traveling for work, yet there he stands, making no move to approach them. Suleiman watches his mother unravel as paranoia grips their household. Neighbors vanish without explanation. His mother destroys his father's book collection in desperate haste. The boy overhears fragments of worried conversations that make little sense. Each day brings fresh uncertainty about whether his father will return home. The family's secrets press against the walls of their house like a physical force. Suleiman must navigate a world where adults speak in code and familiar faces disappear. His childhood fractures under the weight of political forces he cannot fully grasp.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, political-thriller, africa, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Tripoli
Period: 1979
256 pages · Paperback · Penguin Canada