Tales of the letter writers, who penned them and got lost like them at sea. However, they evoke other letters, intersecting like the fates of these strangers. They are the migrants, or displaced, or exiles, who are homeless and orphans of their shattered countries, turning their lives into a 'puzzle'. In this novel, there is no certainty. The murderer is not a criminal, nor the prostitute merely a harlot. It reflects our era, a zone of profound doubt, ambiguity, erasure of borders... and the loss of original places and homes.

Hoda Barakat is a Lebanese novelist whose works have been translated into multiple languages and made it to the shortlist for the Man Booker International Prize 2015, awarded for an author's body of work every two years.

• Published by: Dar Al-Adab
• Number of Pages: 128
• Year of Publication: 2017

Her works published by Dar Al-Adab include: 'The Kingdom of This Earth', 'People of Desire', 'Guardian of the Waters', 'My Lord and My Beloved', 'The Stone of Laughter'.