Disquiet

"Mercy is not an ointment for cruelty."

Disquiet transports the reader to the contemporary Middle East through the stories of Meleknaz, a Yazidi Syrian refugee, and Hussein, a young man from the Turkish city of Mardin near the Syrian border. Passionate about helping others, Hussein begins visiting a refugee camp to tend to the poor and sick streaming into Turkey by the thousands, fleeing ISIS. There, he falls in love with Meleknaz--whom his disapproving family will call "the devil" who seduced him--and their relationship sets further tragedy in motion.

A nuanced meditation on the nature of being human and an empathetic, probing look at the past and present reality of these lands of the Mesopotamian heritage, Disquiet gives a voice to the peoples, faiths, histories, and stories that have swept through this region over centuries.