Description

‘An incredible book. Profoundly affecting and deeply soulful. This book will stay with me forever.’ Ruth Jones, No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author

I don’t know how you’ve made it this far . . .

Sami’s childhood is much like any other – school with his friends, dinners with his family, playing with his pets (stray cats and dogs, and the turtle he keeps on the roof).

But with Syria at war with itself, nothing is really normal. And Sami’s hopes for a better future are about to be ripped away.

Inspired by extraordinary true events, The Stray Cats of Homs is the breathtaking story of a young man who will do anything to keep the dream of home alive.
___

‘An absolutely riveting novel and a searing and incredibly important book. Storytelling at its best.’ Donal Ryan

‘Warm, captivating and inspiring.’ Mike Thomson, author of Syria’s Secret Library

‘Compelling and uncompromising’ BBC Radio 4, Sunday

Publisher Review

An absolutely riveting novel . . . a rare and precious humanizing of the terrible conflagration in Syria. Eva is a writer of the first order and this is a searing and incredibly important book, storytelling at its best. * Donal Ryan, author of FROM A LOW AND QUIET SEA (longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards) * This warm, captivating and inspiring story shows that even the bottomless horrors of war-torn Syria are no match for the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit and the power of love and friendship. * Mike Thomson, author of SYRIA'S SECRET LIBRARY * Compelling and uncompromising. * BBC Radio 4 Sunday * Incredible... a deeply interesting and loving recounting of not just Sami's experience, but the wider story of the people of Syria. * Sunday Business Post * [The Stray Cats of Homs] burns and it stings; each sentence is an accusation - but to read it is to begin to pay a debt that all of us owe. If you can't alleviate the pain, the least you can do is not shut your eyes to the suffering. * Culturefly * The Stray Cats of Homs brings to life the human, inside story of one of the most brutal sieges in recent history, with Syria's Assad trying to break the will of young rebels daring to stand up to the dictator and taking refuge in an ancient city. The novel is as revealing as it is inspiring with its depictions of the lengths heroes will go to in search of personal freedom. * Mark Sullivan, author of BENEATH A SCARLET SKY * It's been a long time since a book kept me up all night, but Eva Nour's The Stray Cats of Homs did. A tender, yet wild and tangible testimony bearing witness to the tragedy in Syria. * Theodor Kallifatides, Award-winning author and Professor of Literature * One of the greatest successes of The Stray Cats of Homs is that it manages to explain the complexity of the war in Syria through Sami's eyes, without getting bogged down by exactly who did what and when. * The National * An artistically flawless novel, written as an act of protest, but also as a poetic declaration of love. * Svenska Dagbladet * The Stray Cats of Homs is a study in survival and a portrayal of the utter hell of the Syrian war. The novel reveals what can never be told by the news reports. * Landskrona Posten *