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Start giftingThe Stray Cats of Homs
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreBrought to you by Penguin.
‘This is a searing and incredibly important book, storytelling at its best’ Donal Ryan
‘A cat has seven souls in Arabic. In English cats have nine lives. You probably have both nine lives and seven souls, because otherwise I don’t know how you’ve made it this far.'
Sami’s childhood is much like any other - an innocent blend of family and school, of friends and relations and pets (including stray cats and dogs, and the turtle he keeps on the roof).
But growing up in one of the largest cities in Syria, with his country at war with itself, means that nothing is really normal. And Sami’s hopes for a better future are ripped away when he is conscripted into the military and forced to train as a map maker.
Sami may be shielded from the worst horrors of the war, but it will still be impossible to avoid his own nightmare…
Inspired by extraordinary true events, The Stray Cats of Homs is the story of a young man who will do anything to keep the dream of home alive, even in the face of unimaginable devastation. Tender, wild and unbearably raw, it is a novel which will stay with you for ever.
©Eva Nour 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020
Eva Nour (Author)
Eva Nour is a journalist writing under a pseudonym. She was inspired to write The Stray Cats of Homs, her debut novel, by meeting and falling in love with the real 'Sami'. Today the couple share a life together in Paris.
Agnes Broomé (Translator)
Agnes Broomé is a literary translator and Preceptor in Scandinavian at Harvard University, with a PhD in Translation Studies. Her translations include August Prize winners The Expedition by Bea Uusma and The Gospel of the Eels by Patrik Svensson, and international bestseller For the Missing by Lina Bengtsdotter.
Reviews
An absolutely riveting novel . . . a rare and precious humanizing of the terrible conflagration in Syria. Eva is a writer of the first order and this is a searing and incredibly important book, storytelling at its best. Profoundly affecting and deeply soulful . . . This book will stay with me forever. This warm, captivating and inspiring story shows that even the bottomless horrors of war-torn Syria are no match for the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit and the power of love and friendship. Compelling and uncompromising. Incredible... a deeply interesting and loving recounting of not just Sami's experience, but the wider story of the people of Syria. Expand reviewsBookshop.org is proud to partner with Libro.fm to give you a great audiobook experience.