THIS HAUNTING NOVEL FEELS SO REAL. I BELIEVED IT TO BE A TRUE STORY, AND IT IS; THE COMING TOGETHER OF MANY REFUGEE STORIES. HEART-BREAKING, POIGNANT, COURAGEOUS AND PENNED WITH A GIFTED HEART AND MIND.  

It is the journey of a beekeeper Nuri and his artist wife Afra, who lose their son Sami, in the Syrian city of Aleppo during the civil war. The destruction of whatever they have loved and cared for is the start of a haunting story, which takes them on a perilous journey by boat, via Istanbul to Athens, where they wait to reach the UK.

Mustafa, is another chief character, Nuri’s cousin, the one who introduces the world of bees to him. He is forced to flee himself, after their apiaries are burnt and destroyed. He waits for Nuri and Afra to join him, writing emails to one another along the way. They are bound by their past, and an unknown future, which is propelled by the need to survive.

Afra turns blind after Sami dies in her arms, ripped by a bomb that comes from the sky. So, Afra and Nuri make this journey together through a broken world, never sure of release and redemption.

The couple carries unmitigated grief within them, which both unites and separates them in turns.

They must find each other again.

Sometimes it is suffering alone that unites permanently, or destroys as permanently.

When I began the book, I knew that it would be one that would tear at my heart, make me choke- but beyond a point I could not stop- I was taken completely, beyond my own will. I had to follow through, culminate the voyage undertaken. I simply had to.

The power of Lefteri’s lyrical writing, interspersed with wisdom and grief that I resonated with had me in its hold.

It takes courage to write thus, as much as be provoked into a vulnerable state, allow oneself to feel what one otherwise try and conceal, even ignore.

The triumph of the human spirit endures.

A spoiler if you will: Mohammed, a young lad comes into being, in order to fill the void created by the absence of Nuri’s son, Sami. He converses with him, tries to protect him, leads him on and believes completely in his existence.

“Sometimes we create such powerful illusions, so that we do not get lost in darkness.” How well I know this.

And this line- “When you belong to someone and they are gone, who are you?”

It shook me. Because I understand this with my life. Perhaps you will too.

Nuri’s description of Afra, his beloved wife: “…when she was sad, my world was dark. I didn’t have a choice about this. She was more powerful than I. She cried like a child, laughed like bells ringing, and her smile was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. …”

 “Afra loved, she hated and she inhaled the world like it was a rose.”

In Syria there is a saying: inside a person you know, there is a person you do not know.

The chapters glide- using a symbol and a word to tie the present to the past, adding to the charm and haunting tones of the novel, that continue to vibrate sonorously long after I shut the book.

THE RELATIONSHIP WITH BEES IS MOST POIGNANT: “WHERE THERE ARE BEES THERE ARE FLOWERS, AND WHERE THERE ARE FLOWERS THERE IS NEW LIFE AND HOPE.”

There are many places in the book where the reader holds her breath, hoping that the outcome turns positive; characters that stir simply by existing on the pages in Lefteri’s descriptions, like Angeliki, the girl from Somalia, whose baby was snatched from her when she travels away from her country, and Nuri observes how her blouse is always stained with breast milk, with no baby in sight. Heart-wrenching.

The love shared between Afra and Nuri are at the core of the narrative’s journey and moves like waves in one’s mind.

There are many marked paragraphs in my kindle copy, shining like beacons in a dark sea, and finally, when the book ends, I felt a surge of hope, along with the triumph of the human spirit.

Mustafa, Nuri and Afra remain embedded in my heart, smiling at last.

©kamalininatesan 22.02.22