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A couple´s tranquil life abroad is irrevocably transformed by the arrival of their son´s widow and children, in the latest from Somalia´s most celebrated novelist.

For decades, Gacalo and Mugdi have lived in Oslo, where they´ve led a peaceful, largely assimilated life and raised two children. Their beloved son, Dhaqaneh, however, is driven by feelings of alienation to jihadism in Somalia, where he kills himself in a suicide attack. The couple reluctantly offers a haven to his family. But on arrival in Oslo, their daughter-in-law cloaks herself even more deeply in religion, while her children hunger for the freedoms of
their new homeland, a rift that will have lifealtering consequences for the entire family.

Set against the backdrop of real events, North of Dawn is a provocative, devastating story of love, loyalty, and national identity that asks whether it is ever possible to escape a legacy of violence--and if so, at what cost.

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Praise for North of Dawn:

"A nuanced, quietly devastating family soap opera...Farah has been writing books for nearly half a century, his name aligned with Nadine Gordimer and Chinua Achebe. Like them, he uses the intimate as allegory for the national....Farah is a deeply sophisticated writer, his prose almost aromatic, like rich, sweet Somali tea." -The New York Times Book Review

"A piercing novel of the Somali diaspora... from its shock opening to its bitter end, Mr Farah shines a searching light on family unity and national identity, examining what binds and what divides. ... when Mr Farah´s characters ring true, his novel soars." -The Economist

"The political becomes personal in this beautifully affecting fictional tale." -O, The Oprah Magazine

"Farah exempts no one from criticism, yet he denies no one sympathy; exile and opportunity, rage and love, delusion and faith are inextricable." -The New Yorker

"[The characters´] story, simply told, gives intimate life to experience so often framed in world-political terms. ´Art is a humanizer,´ as one character observes - and as the Somali novelist clearly and deftly demonstrates, once again." -Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Affecting... the patient clarity of Farah´s storytelling makes the cultures he depicts, and the history he outlines, easily comprehensible. His characters are beautifully drawn, their psychology complex." -Boston Globe

"North of Dawn is a story we rarely hear, a tale concerning the terrorist´s family that takes place in the long shadow of grief, shame and twisted loyalty. It´s also a story pulsing with the adrenaline of our era: a toxic mix of zealotry and xenophobia." -Washington Post

"[A] quiet heartbreaker." -Entertainment Weekly

"A political novel that is also a family drama-a searing, necessary story about identity, xenophobia, and family loyalty from a Nobel Prize nominee." -Marie Claire

"Powerful and timely." -Real Simple

"[A] resonant new novel...nuanced and compassionate." -BBC

"North of Dawn beautifully articulates the pervasive anxiety and nervous condition of being a migrant. ... The novel ponders the aftermath of terrorist acts and asks how one can build a meaningful communal life while always shadowed by the specter of violence and death." -Los Angeles Review of Books

"Farah´s fiction turns global tensions into something more intimate and personal, and makes compelling and humanistic drama out of the most gripping issues of our time." -Vol. 1 Brooklyn

"At its heart, North of Dawn is about people trying to find their place within a changing world...Where many immigrant narratives center on a Western perspective by affirming the humanity of those crossing borders, Farah delves deeper." -Paste Magazine

"Particularly profound." -LitHub

"Internationally renowned and perennially rumored for a Nobel, Farah, an exile himself, explores the Somali diaspora, examining the aftermath of violence and posing questions about identity and assimilation. A timely, necessary addition to his body of work."-Library Journal (starred)

"As one of the characters puts it, "Art is a humanizer," and Farah´s insistence on isolating the humanity in even the most difficult characters is a beacon of hope against fear and loathing."-Kirkus (starred)

"Farah´s entire body of work has been a testament to his country´s divisions and ultimate collapse in the wake of civil war in 1991 ... In typical Farah fashion, everyone´s fate is bound together and no one is left unscathed by the ravages of extremism." --Vanity Fair

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