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Daughters of Smoke and Fire: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
The unforgettable, haunting story of a young woman’s perilous fight for freedom and justice for her brother—the first novel published in English by a female Kurdish writer
Set in Iran, this extraordinary debut novel takes listeners into the everyday lives of the Kurds. Leila dreams of making films to bring the suppressed stories of her people onto the global stage, but obstacles keep piling up. Leila’s younger brother Chia, influenced by their father’s past torture, imprisonment, and his deep-seated desire for justice, begins to engage with social and political affairs. But his activism grows increasingly risky and one day he disappears in Tehran. Seeking answers about her brother’s whereabouts, Leila fears the worst and begins a campaign to save him. But when she publishes Chia’s writings online, she finds herself in grave danger as well.
Daughters of Smoke and Fire is an evocative portrait of the lives and stakes faced by 40 million stateless Kurds and a powerful story that brilliantly illuminates the meaning of identity and the complex bonds of family, perfect for fans of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun.
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“Assadourian expertly narrates the first Kurdish novel in English by a female writer. She brings a light, airy voice to the character of Leila…A seamless listening experience.”
— AudioFile
Quotes
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“A blisteringly powerful tale of standing up to oppression."
— The Independent (London) -
“A fiery, soul-nourishing novel."
— Los Angeles Review of Books -
“An evocative and brutally honest chronicle of the problems that thwart the lives of forty million stateless Kurds.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“An expansive, sharp story about a young Kurdish woman…fighting oppression twice over: first because she is Kurdish, second because she is female.”
— WBUR -
“Brings readers closer to lived experiences that force questions of identity, homeland, and the traumas we inherit.”
— Booklist -
“Homa opened my eyes to the subtleties and challenges of the Kurdish minority in Iran and made the last fifty or so years of Iranian history feel very current.”
— Audible.com -
“Shows us, through one family’s story, the stakes faced by the Kurds.”
— Joy Kogawa, author of Obasan -
“[A] story of coming of age, oppression, and death.”
— Peter W. Galbraith, ambassador and author of The End of Iraq -
“A haunting piece of political fiction and a gut-punch tale of an alienated Kurdish girl swimming upstream against a tide of sexism and ethnic hatred.”
— Kevin McKiernan, author and award-winning documentary filmmaker
Awards
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A BookReporter Pick of Books Mom Will Love
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A BookRiot Pick of the Month's New Releases
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Shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
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An An Audacious Book Club Pick of the Month
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About Ava Homa
Ava Homa is a writer, journalist, and activist specializing in women’s issues and Middle Eastern affairs. She holds an MA in English and creative writing from the University of Windsor in Canada. Her collection of short stories, Echoes from the Other Land, was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and she is the inaugural recipient of the PEN Canada–Humber College Writers-in-Exile Scholarship. She was born and raised in the Kurdistan Province in Iran and now divides her time between Toronto and the Bay Area.