This novel reflects a profound realism in its narrative and its depiction of the state of rupture experienced by individuals forced into emigration. They leave behind their homelands, engulfed in flames that feed on the bodies of their children, only to be violently stripped of their origins and forcibly lose their connection to them.

The narrative structure oscillates between two forms. On one hand, it resembles a psychological analysis of individuals caught between two conflicting worlds. On the other, it is a historical biography of a family that, despite its specificity, mirrors the condition of many families driven by the miserable conditions in their homelands to seek a stable footing outside their history, land, and roots, in "safe" countries with different histories, lands, and roots, and consequently, different standards, measures, and ways of life that bear no resemblance to what these families inherited in their original homelands and what they try to pass on to their children.

The novel begins with Lara and Samir preparing for New Year's Eve. They came from Iraq to live in the Netherlands. During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, Iraqis of Iranian Kurdish descent, including the protagonist Lara and her family, were transformed "from a minority living in the shadows to a group of conspirators and traitors," and were "thrown out like garbage across the borders." They endure various forms of alienation: "The alienation grew with us, turning over the years into a reality difficult to imagine, imposed on us by wars," "different long-term wars," and "a long series of bloody revolutions that took place over the years in Iraq...".

The novel expresses the state of migration and estrangement with all its bitterness, suffering, and contradictions, between a wounded, bleeding, and lost homeland that offered little more than "a pile of customs and traditions we brought with us in our suitcases and minds..", and a foreign country, organized and programmed to the point of monotony and routine, that welcomed and embraced them, but to which they can never truly belong. As the protagonist says: "No matter how long we stay here, we will always be second-class citizens to them."

"The worries of the children concern us, the expatriates..." Muhannad, the son who embodies the paradox of conflicting belonging to two incompatible countries, is accused of "lacking a sense of responsibility towards his family in Iraq and the rest of his nation" when he tries to speak for the Netherlands, which "gave him security, bread, education, medicine, and most importantly, freedom of expression, which our home country and no other Islamic country provided." Mutayyam, the other son, "that reckless boy," was previously imprisoned "for two consecutive months for a fight with a Dutch boy" over a girl and was mistreated in prison. As for the daughter Abeer, "She has memorized the role we taught her over the years, to remain cold and still as a stone..", for fear that she might "do as her European friends do."

The author delves into the distant past, telling the story of grandfather Hassan Zada and his migration from Iran to escape a plague that struck the mountain villages, and his quest "to prove himself and succeed in securing his future." She also revisits the recent past in Iraq, with its mischief, personal and political dreams, the era of struggle and oppression, bombings, illusions of "heroism," buried love, and dreams of change. But the outcome of all this is: "We remain as we are, for nothing in this country changes except the faces...".

This is a sincere novel that articulately and intelligently expresses fiery ideas, psychological states, and real-life situations. It portrays the conflicts and contradictions of a generation living on the edge of a perpetual historical, geographical, and temporal duality, reflecting the suffering and fragmentation in evaluating concepts, standards, and feelings, especially when facing the growth of their children who will have to search for and reflect on the meaning of identity and belonging.

• Publishing House: Arab Scientific Publishers/Lebanon
• Number of Pages: 375
• Year of Publication: 2009