The Map of Salt and Stars

I hope Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar's novel The Map of Salt and Stars (#745) gains a wide readership.  She intertwines the stories of a Syrian refugee family with a parallel tale of wanderings through the Arabic world during the twelfth century.  Both are compelling stories couched in exquisite language.  Nour, born and raised n Manhattan, and Rawiya, raised in Africa in sight of the Rock of Gibraltar, are linked by maps and a love for the stars.

After Nour's Baba dies, her mother decides to take her and her two older sisters back home to Homs, Syria, to continue her map-making business.  But Nour, at twelve, has never been there and speaks only a word or two of Arabic.  What's home to the rest of her family is alien to her.  Although her mother tries to ignore the political unrest surrounding them, a stray shell destroys their home and their belongings.  With her older sister Huda injured in the blast, the family tries desperately to find a safe refuge.  Their story is harrowing.  Nour comforts herself by retelling herself a story her father used to share with her as they roamed New York.  It's the story of Rawiya, who longed to apprentice herself to a famous map maker, al-Idrisi, and see the world.

Readers will recognize some elements of the Arabian Nights in Rawiya's story, but al-Idrisi is a real figure who created the most accurate map of the Arabic world at the time of the Second Crusades.  Both the maps and the stars guide these girls through their dangerous  journeys.  Although Nour and her family are fictional, the plight of Syrian refugees most assuredly is not.  This is a glimpse into a world and culture unexamined by most of us.  Highly recommended.