About this item
In her therapist's waiting room in Damascus, Suleima meets a strange and reticent man named Naseem, and they soon begin a tense affair. But when Naseem, a writer, flees Syria for Germany, he sends Suleima the unfinished manuscript of his novel. To Suleima's surprise, she and the novel's protagonist are uncannily similar. As she reads, Suleima's past overwhelms her and she has no idea what to trust--Naseem's pages, her own memory, or nothing at all? Narrated in alternating chapters by Suleima and the mysterious woman portrayed in Naseem's novel, The Frightened Ones is a boundary-blurring, radical examination of the effects of oppression on one's sense of identity, the effects of collective trauma, and a moving window into life inside Assad's Syria.
About the Author
Dima Wannous (Arabic: ???? ?????) (born 1982) is a Syrian writer and translator. She was born in Damascus and studied French literature at Damascus University and the Sorbonne. She also studied translation in France. She has worked in both print and broadcast media (radio and TV) .She caught the eye of literary critics with Details, a short story collection released in 2007. She published her debut novel The Chair in 2008. She was named as one of the Beirut39, a group of 39 Arab writers under the age of 40 chosen through a contest organised by Banipal magazine and the Hay Festival. Her 2017 Novel The Frightened Ones is shortlisted for the 2018 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Dima is the daughter of Syrian playwright Saadallah Wannous. She is married to Ibrahim Hamidi, al-Hayat's bureau chief in Damascus. They have a son. From Wikipedia:
