Refuge: A Novel

By: Dina Nayeri

Narrated by: Mozhan Marnò, Youssif Kamal

“Rich and colorful… [Refuge] has the kind of immediacy commonly associated with memoir, which lends it heft, intimacy, atmosphere.” –New York Times

The moving lifetime relationship between a father and a daughter, seen through the prism of global immigration and the contemporary refugee experience.

An Iranian girl escapes to America as a child, but her father stays behind. Over twenty years, as she transforms from confused immigrant to overachieving Westerner to sophisticated European transplant, daughter and father know each other only from their visits: four crucial visits over two decades, each in a different international city. The longer they are apart, the more their lives diverge, but also the more each comes to need the other's wisdom and, ultimately, rescue. Meanwhile, refugees of all nationalities are flowing into Europe under troubling conditions. Wanting to help, but also looking for a lost sense of home, our grown-up transplant finds herself quickly entranced by a world that is at once everything she has missed and nothing that she has ever known. Will her immersion in the lives of these new refugees allow her the grace to save her father?

Refuge charts the deeply moving lifetime relationship between a father and a daughter, seen through the prism of global immigration. Beautifully written, full of insight, charm, and humor, the novel subtly exposes the parts of ourselves that get left behind in the wake of diaspora and ultimately asks: Must home always be a physical place, or can we find it in another person?

an insightful and personal view of a Refugee

I head about this book listening to NPR and started the book to gain insight on what it's like to be a political refugee. I found that it was a very personal account of life after being uprooted but in a very relatable and profound way. The author is very good at not just telling the story but telling the underlying thoughts and feelings of the characters; what it's like to be them. It had a beautiful way of describing scents, tastes, feeling, and seeing. Also the relationships in the book were honest in a way rarely seen. I would recommend this book. I enjoyed the audio recording too and think both voices were really understandable and pleasant to listen too.

an outstanding work of fiction

Loved it from start to finish, especially the two character voices of father and daughter. Rarely do I want to listen twice to a book but this book offers so much more. I will certainly enjoy returning to the characters and their contrasting experiences as refugees.