Bride of the Sea
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3.5 • 8 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Arab American Book Award Winner for Fiction
Shortlisted for the 2022 William Saroyan International Prize for Literature
Named a Best Debut Novel of the Year by BookPage and a Best Book of the Year by The New Arab
“A marvel. An intricately realized novel that honors every place it depicts.” —Rakesh Satyal
“I love the sea,” she said. “I don’t know if I could live without it.”
During a snowy Cleveland February, newlywed university students Muneer and Saeedah are expecting their first child, and he is harboring a secret: the word divorce is whispering in his ear. Soon, their marriage will end, and Muneer will return to Saudi Arabia, while Saeedah remains in Cleveland with their daughter, Hanadi. Consumed by a growing fear of losing her daughter, Saeedah disappears with the little girl, leaving Muneer to desperately search for his daughter for years. The repercussions of the abduction ripple outward, not only changing the lives of Hanadi and her parents, but also their interwoven family and friends—those who must choose sides and hide their own deeply guarded secrets.
And when Hanadi comes of age, she finds herself at the center of this conflict, torn between the world she grew up in and a family across the ocean. How can she exist between parents, between countries?
Eman Quotah’s Bride of the Sea is a spellbinding debut of colliding cultures, immigration, religion, and family; an intimate portrait of loss and healing; and, ultimately, a testament to the ways we find ourselves inside love, distance, and heartbreak.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Quotah's alluring debut follows star-crossed Cleveland newlyweds Muneer and Saeedah through their brief marriage and its lengthy aftermath. In 1970, with a baby on the way and a lively extended family, a dark specter looms over the marriage of the two Saudi Arabian immigrants, as Muneer has doubts about the permanence of their union. Friends since childhood, the couple is inherently mismatched: Saeedah is outspoken and restless, clashing with Muneer's staunch sense of calm and order. After six years of marriage, the two divorce, and Muneer returns to Saudi Arabia while Saeedah remains in Cleveland with their daughter, Hanadi, now five. Saeedah's overprotectiveness of Hanadi and resentfulness toward Muneer spur her to disappear with their daughter, and Muneer spends years searching for his child. This estrangement and the inevitable, volatile father-daughter reunion when Hanadi is 17 cause rifts throughout Hanadi's adult life as she attempts to reconcile with her painful past. The narrative's delicacy belies the weight of its themes, and descriptions are etched with precision (Saeedah's "nerves are elastic pulled tight"). Quotah's resonant, neatly plotted outing will be a treat for readers who love fractured family dramas.
