A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi

When they part ways-Tareq and Susan go on to Athens so that they can continue to Germany-Alexia and Tareq agree to keep in touch. She spends her days helping to drag in boats of refugees from the water, providing them with dry clothing and food, and instructing them on their next steps.Īlexia forms a bond with the siblings and assists in rescuing Susan from human traffickers. In Greece, they meet Alexia, a college student from Connecticut who has deferred a semester to volunteer in Greece. The boat starts taking on water, and a couple dies, leaving behind a baby. Tareq and Susan make a harrowing boat trip across the Aegean Sea without their father. They get a spot on a boat headed to Greece, but they only have enough money for Tareq and Susan. While Musa decides to make Istanbul home, Tareq is determined to get to Europe, where he believes Susan will be safer. He is frustrated with the way Syrian refugees like himself are exploited for cheap labor. While Musa adapts quickly to life in Istanbul, picking up the language and even sparking a romance with a girl named Shayma, Tareq struggles with leaving his homeland. Once in Turkey, they are out of money, so Musa and Tareq go to Istanbul to raise more funds to get to Europe. Their parents are worried the pretty young women will become Daesh brides. They also bring two neighbor girls, Shams and Asil. Fayed, Tareq, and Susan leave the next day along with Musa. Shortly after, Daesh force the boys to watch a public execution. Musa provides details regarding the Daesh’s brutal reign in Raqqa. Waleed has agreed to provide the money for their escape from Syria. Fayed’s brother, Waleed, lives there with his wife, Nada, and son, Musa-Tareq’s cousin, who is about his age.

Salim’s body can’t be found, so the family assumes he is dead.įayed takes Susan and Tareq to another city, Raqqa. Nour, Farah, the paternal grandmother, and twin baby brothers die. Syria is already in a violent conflict between Daesh militants and the government of President Bashar al-Assad. They all live together with their parents, Fayed and Nour, and their paternal grandmother. He has a younger brother Salim two younger sisters, Farrah and Susan and twin baby brothers, Ameer and Sameer, who are just five months old. A teenage boy, Tareq, is the oldest of his siblings.

The book argues that refugees can be created anytime and anywhere, due to uncontrollable circumstances, and calls for empathy. The book’s omnipresent narrator is Destiny, as in fate, who makes connections between Tareq and the many other refugees of the world, past and present.

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi