Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2006. A first novel by Hisham Matar. Nine-year-old Suleiman’s father is away on business, but Suleiman is sure he sees him in the market square of Tripoli. Why doesn’t he come over?
Nine-year-old Suleiman is just awakening to the wider world beyond the games on the hot pavement outside his home and beyond the loving embrace of his parents. He becomes the man of the house when his father goes away on business, but then he sees his father, standing in the market square in a pair of dark glasses. Suddenly the wider world becomes a frightening place where parents lie and questions go unanswered. Suleiman turns to his mother, who, under the cover of night, entrusts him with the secret story of her childhood.
