Mariam's Journey
Mahmoud Hasan al-Jasim
Mariam's Journey opens with the lines: “I am writing this story for you, Mariam. You will read the story and know and pass on the truth of what happened to us.” This is the story told by Sara Toni Jabbour to her daughter, Mariam. Sara, a Christian woman, moves to the Syrian city of Raqqa and marries Mariam’s father, a Muslim man. When fundamentalist Salafi groups sweep through Raqqa, Sara is forced – as a Christian married to a Muslim – to retreat to her family’s village. However, with Shabiha thugs in control of the area, she flees into the unknown with Mariam only to then face merciless people smugglers. Wanting to leave her daughter a true and undistorted account of their life as a family, Sara records for Mariam the joys of life with her husband and the torment of life without him. Through the story of her journey across Lebanon, Syria and Turkey, we gain an insight into the fear experienced by those forced to leave their country.
Nomination
2016 Longlist
Mahmoud Hasan al-Jasim
Country of origin Syria
About the author
Mahmoud Hasan al-Jasim is a Syrian writer and academic, born in 1966. He taught at the College of Arts and Humanities in Aleppo, Syria, before moving in 2012 to his current post at the College of Arts and Sciences at Qatar University. He has spent more than fourteen years teaching Arabic grammar and Arabic to non-native speakers. He has published three novels: Forgive Me, Mother (2014), Brazen Looks (2015) and Mariam's Journey (2015).