Francesca Peacock

Refugee lives: The Singularity, by Balsam Karam, reviewed

The stories of two tragic mothers are interwoven in a haunting novel revolving around war, displacement, despair and the loss of children

[Getty Images] 
issue 20 January 2024

One Friday evening in a half-ruined, half-rebuilt city, where smart tourists dine out in restaurants next to refugees in makeshift shelters, a woman walks the streets. In torn clothes and slippers ‘worn ragged’, she hands out leaflets. On every piece of paper the same words are written: ‘Has anyone seen my daughter?’

On the same evening, in the same coastal city, which is ‘half obscured by skyscrapers’, another woman walks the streets with a different purpose, seeking to spend time away from her co-workers on a business trip. As she cradles her pregnant stomach, she watches as a female figure climbs over a clifftop railing and jumps, leaving behind a bag of leaflets. Later, the second woman has a miscarriage. Sitting in the hospital, she knows her baby died the moment she saw the body hit the rocks and sea.

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