When Salma becomes pregnant before marriage in her small village in the Levant, her innocent days playing the pipe for her goats are gone for ever. She is swept into prison for her own protection. To the sound of her screams, her newborn baby daughter is snatched away. In the middle of the most English of towns, Exeter, she learns good manners from her landlady, and settles down with an Englishman. But deep in her heart the cries of her baby daughter still echo. When she can bear them no longer, she goes back to her village to find her. It is a journey that will change everything - and nothing.Slipping back and forth between the olive groves of the Levant and the rain-slicked pavements of Exeter, My Name is Salma is a searing portrayal of a woman's courage in the face of insurmountable odds.
'Exquisitely woven, laced with humour and social awareness' Leila Aboulela, author of The Minaret
When Salma becomes pregnant before marriage in her small village in the Levant, she is swept into prison for her own protection and her new-born baby is snatched away.
As an asylum-seeker in the middle of the most English of towns, Exeter, she rebuilds her life and settles down with an Englishman. But deep in her heart the cries of her baby daughter still echo. She decides to go back to her village to find her.It is a journey that will change everything - and nothing.
'A beautiful book, written in vivid, tender prose, about creating a new world when you have lost everything that matters. Salma is unforgettable' Maggie Gee
'[My Name is Salma] vividly expresses the horror of lives oppressed by archaic patriarchal honour codes' Financial Times
