
Of Loss and Lavender
A Novel
Sinan Antoon(Author)
Other Press LLC
Will be published approx. on 17. March 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-63542-570-3 (ISBN)
Description
A Best Book of the Year So Far by The New Yorker
In this achingly beautiful novel of trauma, memory, and identity, two Iraqi men struggle to start a new life in the United States after the Gulf War.
Sami, a retired doctor, lives with his son and grandchildren in Brooklyn. As he tries to navigate this new city, it becomes increasingly clear he is losing his memory due to dementia. Every day he sinks deeper into old memories of a life in Iraq before the war.
Omar arrived in the US with no family. He has run away from Baghdad with a fake identity. As a deserter, he was punished by having an ear cut off, an unmissable mark of shame. From Detroit to a farm in New Jersey, Omar works menial jobs, creates a new identity—comically passing as Puerto Rican—and dreams of reconstructive surgery to get his ear, and his dignity, back.
As their stories unexpectedly converge Of Loss and Lavender creates a moving portrait of life in exile, deftly exploring the aftermath of war and relocation.
In this achingly beautiful novel of trauma, memory, and identity, two Iraqi men struggle to start a new life in the United States after the Gulf War.
Sami, a retired doctor, lives with his son and grandchildren in Brooklyn. As he tries to navigate this new city, it becomes increasingly clear he is losing his memory due to dementia. Every day he sinks deeper into old memories of a life in Iraq before the war.
Omar arrived in the US with no family. He has run away from Baghdad with a fake identity. As a deserter, he was punished by having an ear cut off, an unmissable mark of shame. From Detroit to a farm in New Jersey, Omar works menial jobs, creates a new identity—comically passing as Puerto Rican—and dreams of reconstructive surgery to get his ear, and his dignity, back.
As their stories unexpectedly converge Of Loss and Lavender creates a moving portrait of life in exile, deftly exploring the aftermath of war and relocation.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 201 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
285 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-63542-570-3 (9781635425703)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Person
Sinan Antoon