Yara Zgheib

I was immediately drawn into this story. A powerful story that is sure to linger in your mind. A story of love, family, and determining what “home” means and where it is.

On January 27, 2017, Executive Order 13769 was issued, suspending Syrian refugees’ admission into the US indefinitely. You probably heard about and went on with your life as usual, as it did not impact you. But how about those it did impact? What did it mean to them?

This is the heartbreaking story of a young Syrian show more couple living in the US and how they were ripped apart by this travel ban. And it happened on the eve of their first child’s premature birth. Hadi was a sponsored refugee in the US on a visa and had left the US only for a few days to assist his mother with his father’s funeral. But when he arrived at Logan International Airport, he was denied entry and deported. As Hadi struggles to return to his family in the US, you are forced to wonder if they will ever be reunited? Both Hadi and his wife Sama struggle with the uncertainly of life now, neither understanding exactly how this happened to them. It is unsafe to return to war-torn Syria. As Syrian refugees, they have “no land to light on.” And Sama is well aware of the future their son could have as an American citizen, having been born in the US. This weighs heavily on her mind as she tries to sort out her next step.

Told in the alternating points of view of Hadi and Sama, the story tugged at my heart and made me angry at the injustice they, and others like them, endure. They are trapped in a situation beyond their control. The writing is beautiful and, at times, poetic, expressing their longing to be reunited. show less

On January 28th 2017 five-months-pregnant Sama is standing in the arrivals hall of Boston’s Logan Airport, waiting for her husband Hadi, who is returning from a trip to Jordan to bury his father. She is aware of shouts and chanting from angry crowds of protesters but doesn’t know what they are protesting about, all she is conscious of is being pushed against the barrier, aware that the only protection she can offer her baby is to keep her arms in front of her stomach. She knows Hadi’s show more plane landed ages ago so why hasn’t he emerged? They should be home by now, eating the food she had prepared to welcome him home. Then her phone rings and Hadi tells her that he isn’t being allowed through; he has no idea what’s going on but his passport has been taken. Concerned for her and the baby he wants her to return home whilst he ‘figures it out’. But what neither of them knows is that the day before Donald Trump had issued Executive Order 13769, banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries in order to ‘protect the nation from terrorist entry into the United States’. The ban included individuals from those countries who had pre-existing visas and this was why Hadi, a Syrian refugee who had legitimately entered the country two years earlier, has legal refugee status as well as a travel permit to travel to Jordan, wasn’t being allowed in. As she is speaking to her husband Sama’s contractions start and she’s rushed to hospital where she gives birth to their very premature son, just as her husband is being deported back to Amman.
Yara Zgheib’s very moving story follows the fates of Sama and Hadi, a young couple who cling to the love they feel for each other, are desperate to be reunited and to continue to build the better life they’d dreamt of for themselves in the US. But, trapped in the bureaucratic nightmare of Trump’s inhumane edicts, their ‘American Dream’ seems to slip further and further away. The author’s portrayal of the daily struggles they face as they remain continents apart, feeling powerless to influence what is happening to them and with Sama also having to watch her young son struggle to cling on to his fragile hold on life, was so evocatively captured that there were many moments when I felt moved to tears … although these were matched by at least as many moments when I felt anger about how immigrants and refugees are all too often treated.
Through her two main characters the author explores the immigrant/refugee experiences from their different perspectives, illustrating that people’s reasons for leaving their homelands are not homogeneous. Knowing that her options had she remained in Damascus would have been severely limited, Sama emigrated for opportunity, arriving in Boston in 2010, at the age of seventeen, on a scholarship to study anthropology at Harvard. Seven years later she feels settled and is studying for her PhD, writing her dissertation on parallels between human and avian migratory patterns, focusing on red knots, tiny seabirds whose numbers are in steep decline in North America due to the dwindling of habitats along their annual 15,000-kilometre journey from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego. Hadi’s motivation for leaving Syria was to seek safety. Having spent two years in an over-crowded prison because of his active opposition to Assad’s brutal regime, he knew his life was still in danger and, a year after his release, arrived in Boston as a refugee in November 2015. Just five days after his arrival he meets Sama at a ‘welcome to America’ reception at Harvard where, still feeling totally disoriented, he gives a speech thanking all those who had helped him find refuge.
As the story moves backwards and forwards in time, the reader discovers more about their different reasons for leaving Syria, the families they have left behind, their different reactions to living as an immigrant in a foreign country, their growing love for each other, their marriage, their hopes for the future as they prepare for the birth of their baby and then their increasing despair as all their efforts to be reunited seem doomed to failure and they recognise that there is nothing certain about their future. Interwoven through the story are excerpts from Sama’s dissertation about bird migration, exploring why, when most bird species don’t migrate, some face long, perilous journeys. In fact, approximately a third of the billions of birds which do migrate annually don’t survive the journey. Although the author’s metaphorical use of avian migration to echo some of the parallels with the human experience could have felt clichéd, I think she used it very effectively to reflect the huge risks people are prepared to take to seek a better life and to escape danger and oppression. But, like the birds, for many their journey is fraught with danger, some are fated to never reach their destination and often even those who do will still face an uncertain future. Just one of the questions these comparisons raises is why human beings are capable of feeling in awe of bird migration and are sympathetic to the fate of these creatures on their perilous journeys, yet fail to extend similar sentiments to human migrants.
Using beautifully lyrical language, Yara Zgheib has offered her readers profound insights into the psychological, physical and economic struggles faced by those who seek a better life away from their original homeland and I’m sure I won’t be alone in feeling deeply moved by this unforgettable story. She introduces it with this apposite quote from Michael Ondaatje, who has first-hand knowledge of what the migration journey feels like:
‘With no light to land on, they look back without nostalgia, and look forward with a frayed hope.’
I loved how, without making any attempt to protect her readers from the pain and fear being felt by Sama and Hadi, she managed to capture their hope that they did have a shared future to look forward to, as well as their belief that the love they felt for each other would survive their separation. I hope they found their light to land on.
With thanks to Readers First and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. show less

Digital audiobook performed by Fayir Al-Kaisi, Ali Andre Ali, and Suehyla El-Attar.
4****

From the book jacket: Sama and Hadi are a young Syrian couple in love, dreaming of their future in the country that brought them together. Sama came to Boston years before on a scholarship to Harvard; Hadi landed there as a sponsored refugee from a civil war. Now they are giddily awaiting the birth of their son, whose native language will be freedom and belonging. When Sama is five months pregnant, show more Hadi’s father dies suddenly, and Hadi decides to fly back for the funeral, promising his wife he will be gone only a few days. On the date of his return Sama waits for him at the arrivals gate, but he doesn’t appear. She is unaware that Hadi has been stopped by US Customs and Border Protection, detained for questioning, and deported.

My reactions:
Oh, I am so sorry I had to miss my F2F book club discussion on this book! One president’s decision to ban immigrants from certain countries results in a devastating separation. These are educated people. Upright citizens-in-waiting with responsible jobs and many American friends in this, their adopted country. The way they are treated is shameful! How easily we have forgotten our own roots, our own ancestors’ struggles to come here for a chance at a peaceful existence, to raise families, and find success through hard work.

I know a woman whose husband was similarly detained, deported and barred from returning to her. She lives alone, with occasional phone contact with the man she loves and who loves her. In limbo. I could not help but think of them when reading this work of fiction.

I admit that when listening I completely misinterpreted the final chapter. In my initial reaction I was stunned at how the characters reacted. And then I went back and read the last three chapters in text and came to a completely different understanding. This is a book that made me think … and I’ll be pondering it for some time.

The audiobook is narrated by three talented voice artists. This was very effective to highlight the changing points of view. show less

I fell hard in love with this book and the writing style. The emotional connection I felt towards Anna was instant. There was no judgement towards her; just sorrow, encouragement, and joy. This is what I liked the most is that everyone from the staff to Anna's husband, Matthias, as well as the other girls were all so supportive of each other.

Everything that Anna went through was as if I was in her shoes. When she had a set back; I had a set back and when she ate some food; I savored every show more morsel. While, I have never experienced an eating disorder; this book provided a real insightful look into someone's journey to recovery. Although, the sad part is that no one really ever fully recovers like any other addiction. This book is not to be missed. The Girls at 17 Swann Street will tug at your heart strings and stay with you long after the last page has been read! show less