Christy Lefteri
Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo–until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain. On the way, Nuri is sustained by the knowledge that waiting for them is Mustafa, his cousin and business partner, who has started an apiary and is teaching fellow refugees in Yorkshire to keep bees.
As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all, they must journey to find each other again.
Rating:
4 Stars
Quotes & Personal Highlights
“Aleppo is now like the dead body of a loved one, it has no life, no soul, it is full of rotting blood.”
“But if we had known, what would we have done? We would have been too afraid to live, too afraid to be free and to make plans.”
“Having seen all this unfold convinced me that things can change, that hope can prevail, even in the most difficult of circumstances.”
“I wanted to set forth the idea that among profound, unspeakable loss, humans can still find love and light—and see one another.”
“I wish I could escape my mind, that I could be free of this world and everything I have seen in the last few years. And the children who have survived – what will become of them? How will they be able to live in this world?”
“I wished that there was someone to guide me, to tell me what to do and which way to go, but I felt completely alone.”
“Inside the person you know, there is a person you do not know.”
“It takes bravery to cry out, to release what is in your heart.”
“It took me years to understand them, and once I did, the world around me never looked or sounded the same.”
“It took me years to understand them, and once I did, the world around me never looked or sounded the same.”
“Name – My beautiful boy.
“O Allah keep me alive as long as is good for me, and when death is better for me, take me.”
“People are not like bees. We do not work together, we have no real sense of a greater good –”
“She cried like a child, laughed like bells ringing, and her smile was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. She loved, she hated, and she inhaled the world like it was a rose. All this was why I loved her more than life.”
“She looked into my eyes, as if she could see me. In that moment I could see her too, the woman inside, the woman I’d lost. She was there with me, her soul open and present and clear as light. For those few seconds I was no longer afraid of the journey, of the road ahead.”
“Sometimes I think that if I keep walking, I will find some light, but I know that I can walk to the other side of the world and there will still be darkness. It’s not like the darkness of the night, which also has white light from the stars, from the moon. This darkness is inside me and has nothing to do with the outside world.”
“Sometimes we create such powerful illusions, so that we do not get lost in the darkness.”
“The sound of birdsong never changes.”
“There is always one person in a group who has more courage than the rest. It takes bravery to cry out, to release what is in your heart.”
“They communicated without words from the most primitive part of the soul. I remembered her laughing about this, saying that she felt like an animal, and how she realized that we are less human in our times of greatest love and greatest fear.”
“What he is really saying is this: this is how the story must end; our hearts can bear no more loss.”
“When you belong to someone and they are gone, who are you?”
“Where there are bees there are flowers, and wherever there are flowers there is new life and hope.”
“But if we had known, what would we have done? We would have been too afraid to live, too afraid to be free and to make plans.”
“Where there are bees there are flowers, and wherever there are flowers there is new life and hope.”
“But in Syria there is a saying: inside the person you know, there is a person you do not know.”
“Sometimes we create such powerful illusions, so that we do not get lost in the darkness.”
“But what I loved most was her laugh. She laughed like we would never die.”
“But when she was sad my world was dark. I didn’t have a choice about this. She was more powerful than I. She cried like a child, laughed like bells ringing, and her smile was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. She could argue for hours without ever pausing. Afra loved, she hated, and she inhaled the world like it was a rose. All this was why I loved her more than life.”