The Egyptian-Danish-Australian journalist’s second novel spans continents, following a Palestinian teen as he comes of age during the Syrian civil war and is forced into exile
The air thrums with whistles and drums as people pour around corners, spill down streets. It’s March 2011 in Damascus, Syria, and revolution has arrived in the form of the Arab spring.
Palestinian teen Ghassan, stopping to watch the crowd of protesters, recalls a recent warning from a friend: “What the people want out there, they will never allow.” But among other onlookers, he claps along. Then he is grabbed, bound and forced underground into Syria’s most notorious prison – Sednaya, or Slaughterhouse.
The Hair of the Pigeon by Mohammed Massoud Morsi is published by UWA Press ($34.99)