The Frightened Ones
Published on 9. April 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-78730-037-8 (ISBN)
Description
Out of the blue, Suleima's lover sends her a book he has written. Might this be the moment she finally feels she can understand him?
An electrifying new voice from contemporary Syria on life in a climate of fear
Suleima and Nassim first meet in their therapist's tiny waiting room in Damascus. In the city's atmosphere of surveillance and anxiety, they begin a tenuous relationship.
Some years later, after civil war breaks out, Nassim leaves Syria for Germany. He doesn't ask Suleima to come with him; instead, from thousands of miles away, he sends her a book he has written, a novel about a woman whose experiences are very close to her own.
As Suleima reads, her past overwhelms her. Time begins to fold in on itself, her sense of identity unravels, she has no idea what to trust - Naseem's pages, her own memory - both - or neither? As she attempts to solve the mystery of her lover's manuscript, she must confront what has happened to her family, to her country, and start to make sense of who she is and what she has become.
Bold, contemporary, and told with captivating immediacy, The Frightened Ones is an intimate reckoning of living with fear from an electrifying new voice.
An electrifying new voice from contemporary Syria on life in a climate of fear
Suleima and Nassim first meet in their therapist's tiny waiting room in Damascus. In the city's atmosphere of surveillance and anxiety, they begin a tenuous relationship.
Some years later, after civil war breaks out, Nassim leaves Syria for Germany. He doesn't ask Suleima to come with him; instead, from thousands of miles away, he sends her a book he has written, a novel about a woman whose experiences are very close to her own.
As Suleima reads, her past overwhelms her. Time begins to fold in on itself, her sense of identity unravels, she has no idea what to trust - Naseem's pages, her own memory - both - or neither? As she attempts to solve the mystery of her lover's manuscript, she must confront what has happened to her family, to her country, and start to make sense of who she is and what she has become.
Bold, contemporary, and told with captivating immediacy, The Frightened Ones is an intimate reckoning of living with fear from an electrifying new voice.
Reviews / Votes
'THE FRIGHTENED ONES eloquently locates the crux of the Syrian experience, during a time of brutal repression. In this brilliant novel, Dima Wannous tells us the story of the revolution through the voices of two women . . . With its economy of language, this captivating novel leaves us astounded by the ability of literature to create beauty amidst pain.' * Elias Khoury * 'A complex tale of revolution, displacement, delusional love . . . most memorable in surreal details and glancing tales. The analyst Kamil emerges as the novel's quiet hero - strangely reminiscent of Dr Rieux in Camus's The Plague' * Guardian * The nerve-stretching tension and horror of life in Assad's Syria is conveyed in this cunningly constructed novel... [The Frightened Ones] shortlisted for the Arabic International Prize for Literature, examines how fear strangles lives. It's brutal and unsettling -- David Mills * Sunday Times * A brilliant and terrifying split-personality novel... The novel is full of vivid and terrifying descriptions of the effects of fear * Al Fanar * An eerie and sharp-eyed vision of love, anxiety, and family, and it is beautifully translated * Al Fanar, *Books of the Year* *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 135 mm
Thickness: 135 mm
Weight
276 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78730-037-8 (9781787300378)
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
Persons
Dima Wannous (Author)
Dima Wannous was born in 1982. She is a writer and translator who studied French literature at Damascus University and the Sorbonne. She is the author of a short story collection, Details (2007), and two novels, The Chair (2008) and The Frightened Ones (2017), which was shortlisted for the Arabic International Prize for Literature.
Elisabeth Jaquette (Translator)
Elisabeth Jaquette is a translator from the Arabic, whose work includes Basma Abdel Aziz's The Queue (shortlisted for the TA First Translation Prize), Rania Mamoun's Thirteen Months of Sunrise, and Adania Shibli's Minor Detail. She is also Executive Director of the American Literary Translators Association.
Dima Wannous was born in 1982. She is a writer and translator who studied French literature at Damascus University and the Sorbonne. She is the author of a short story collection, Details (2007), and two novels, The Chair (2008) and The Frightened Ones (2017), which was shortlisted for the Arabic International Prize for Literature.
Elisabeth Jaquette (Translator)
Elisabeth Jaquette is a translator from the Arabic, whose work includes Basma Abdel Aziz's The Queue (shortlisted for the TA First Translation Prize), Rania Mamoun's Thirteen Months of Sunrise, and Adania Shibli's Minor Detail. She is also Executive Director of the American Literary Translators Association.