Elsewhere, Home - Saqi Bookshelf

3.69 ( 802 Ratings by Goodreads)
Elsewhere, Home

Elsewhere, Home - Saqi Bookshelf

3.69 (802 Ratings by Goodreads)
paperback
Published: 13 June, 2018
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Description

Winner of the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year 2018; Longlisted for The People's Book Prize 2018; From one of our finest contemporary writers whose work has been praised by J.M. Coetzee, Ali Smith and Aminatta Forna, Leila Aboulela's Elsewhere, Home offers us a rich tableau of life as an immigrant abroad, attempting to navigate the conflicts of assimilation and difference in an unfamiliar world. A young woman's encounter with a former classmate elicits painful reminders of her former life in Khartoum. A wealthy Sudanese student in Aberdeen begins an unlikely friendship with a Scottish man. A woman experiences an evolving relationship to her favourite writer, whose portrait of their shared culture both reflects and conflicts with her own sense of identity. Shuttling between the dusty, sun-baked streets of Khartoum and the university halls and cramped apartments of Aberdeen and London, Elsewhere, Home explores, with subtlety and restraint, the profound feelings of yearning, loss and alienation that come with leaving one's homeland in pursuit of a different life.
Prizes

Winner of Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year 2018 (UK),Commended for The People's Book Prize 2018 2018 (UK)

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More Details

Type Book
ISBN13 9781846592119
ISBN10 1846592119
Number Of Pages 224
Item Weight 217 g
Product Dimensions 129 x 198 x 21 mm
Publisher / Reseller Saqi Books
Format paperback
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Media Reviews

`Elsewhere, Home is a rich and poignant reflection of a Britain built - as ever - from multiple perspectives and starting points. Fragile, curious, human voices blend, lose themselves, redefine themselves. The emigrant and immigrant experiences have always been part of our storytelling; these beautifully focused tales of Khartoum, Edinburgh, London, Cairo and beyond are a delight.' A.L. Kennedy;`Exquisite fiction. There are gems here, elegantly cut, polished and framed. Luminous.' Fadia Faqir;`Full of elegance, tenderness and the small vulnerabilities that make up our lives' Roma Tearne;`This is the modern female voice ... fresh, diverse, challenging and uninhibited' Rachel Cusk;`Aboulela is the kind of writer from whom British people need to hear' Telegraph;`Thoughtful, wry, funny ... The deceptively quiet tales in Elsewhere, Home are barbed with tension and conflict. There is the desperate homesickness of immigrants; the complications of love between believers and non-believers ... [Aboulela's] interest is with ordinary people, with everyday ambitions and desires.' The Herald; `A beautiful and desolate collection ... [Aboulela's stories] distil many of her recurring concerns - immigrant loneliness, complicated romance and a portrayal of the Islamic faith that goes far beyond the cliched narrative - but without ever becoming trite. ... An intimacy is created that immediately pulls the reader into the [characters'] lives. ... There is so much quiet brilliance that it is a surprise for those who have only followed Aboulela's long-form fiction to discover she has just as much mastery of the short form.' The Observer; `A lovely collection of short stories about love, loneliness and spirituality' Nadiya Hussain, Good Housekeeping; `Spanning Cairo, Khartoum, Abu Dhabi, London and Aberdeen, Elsewhere, Home by Leila Aboulela looks in on the lives of contemporary British Muslims with ties to more than one place. ... With empathy and tenderness, Aboulela navigates classic intergenerational conflict in shifting cultural and religious sands. Elsewhere, Home is a sophisticated and modern narrative of global citizenship.' Laura Waddell, TLS; `Leila Aboulela is one of the world's best short story writers ... This selection beautifully conjures the vertigo of homesickness. These are everyday stories observed with unusual sensitivity to the fine grains of hope that live in throwaway gestures.' Lithub, Most Anticipated Books of 2019; `These intricacies of bi-cultural families and friendships carry a delicate strength that doesn't just resemble life, it is life ... this quiet collection transcends theme, setting, subject ... the first collection I've read since James Joyce's Dubliners that reminded me of the life-changing power of furiously-honest realism.' The New York Times Book Review

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GoodReads Reviews

Author's Bio

Leila Aboulela is an award-winning novelist and playwright. Her novels, which were all longlisted for the Orange Prize, include The Translator (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Minaret and Lyrics Alley. Lyrics Alley was also Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Translated into fourteen languages, Aboulela's work has received a high profile for its distinctive exploration of identity, migration and Islamic spirituality. Aboulela grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and now lives in Aberdeen.

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