ngalbani 's review for:

The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
5.0

This book was recommended by Chris Bohjalian and I was so lucky to win a hardback copy from Goodreads.
It is a story of a journey to safety for Nour, a young Syrian refugee who has to flee Homs after a shell destroys her family house. Nour’s travel is intertwined with the journey of Rawiya, a young girl who traveled 800 years earlier along the same path of Nour with Al-Idris, a cartographer author of the Tabula Rogeriana.
I loved as the modern story of Nour with her difficulties, dangerous situations and losses were somewhat parallel to the battles and mythological encounters of Rawiya. I loved how the characters evolve and how their relationships develop.
I think that if the author wanted to make us think about the dire conditions of refugee and this can happen to people like us she succeeded.