A magical first novel, carefully entwining ancient folklore with the plight of modern day Syrian refugees with a deft hand and lucious prose. This is a richly imagined story, the story of one family but also of so much more. Beautiful and haunting.

I started this book a long time ago and I just couldn't concentrate on it, and I felt that it deserved more. I am pleased I tried again.
It's a good story and although heavy going it's worth persevering with to get a full experience.
I did need tissues, but I think that is what makes it memorable.
A lovely story.

I was not able to read this novel due to the available format. I tried to, but the font was too small.

An excellent piece of fiction for those interested in the current political climate in the Middle East or the refuge criss more generally. The two stories are interwoven seamlessly and both are highly poignant with lyrical prose. Often people of my generation retweet articles on Twitter and acknowledge the injustice of the global political crisis but are able to move past it and onto the next tweet. Reading stories such as this are more haunting and can be far more effective for raising awareness.

After reading this is to Syria what the Kite Runner was to Afghanistan how could I not pick this book up. It did not let down, such a beautiful story of a family moving back to Syria after their father dies, However, with civil war looming there couldn't be a worse time. This book was both Harrowing and heartbreaking but I feel a story that needed to be told. Would highly recommend

A Map of Salt & Stars was brilliant; it was so captivating & subtly & quietly broke my heart repeatedly. This gorgeous book tells two stories – one about a young Syrian-American & the devastation her family face after they move back to Syria when her father dies. The other story is about a young girl who disguises herself as a young boy in order to travel with a well-known map-maker. Both stories could be in their own book – neither tale loses anything from it because it’s sewn next to another, instead the stories support & compliment each other throughout.

Visit writingwithwolves.co.uk for the full review.

Close observers of my choice of books in the last few years will have noticed that books set in the middle east are regularly featured. I strongly believe that the voices from the region can be instrumental in breeding empathy for the human plight of refugees and provide witness to mistreatment of those left at home which we in the West profess to abhor, but tend to turn our faces away when it becomes too disturbing to accept the full depth of the situation.

I cannot really express how much I enjoyed this book, the language is truly beautiful and this is a story with so may facets and threads that the sum of those parts is thought provoking and affecting long after the last page is read.

This is a story about Grief, about the destructive power of War on heart, mind and body and ultimately the redemptive power of Love. It is a searing story of tenacity and bravery with many of the main protagonists being women and girls, their strength in the face of adversity, horror and loss is the more powerful being set in a predominantly patriarchal society.

I was swept along on their arduous and dangerous journey, finding much to admire in Nour, her elder sisters and Mother. the story does not flinch from the realities that are faced by refugees from the region. Facing starvation and the risk of Sexual assault, extortion and cruelty a small band begin their journey in the Bombed city of Homs in a bid to seek refuge in Spanish held territories across desert and ocean.


This journey is mirrored in the tale of a young girl seeking fame and fortune with a famous map maker as he begins to map the lands of the Mediterranean for the noble and learned King, dressing as a boy for safety, her tale is a great counterpoint to the modern narrative, they follow a similar course geographically and here we see her grow into a woman toughed by her experiences of loss, betrayal and violence (with some mythical creatures thrown in to season the pot).

The use of colour in the story cleverly manipulates Nour's synaesthesia to create some astounding descriptions. The tastes and textures of food , the sound of people's voices are all attributed a hue and the obsession with rocks and pebbles were strongly evocative of my own childhood when my younger sister would set off in search of that perfect pebble, and all other activity would cease until she had it warming in her palm.

This was an utterly absorbing book, both gritty realism and fairy-tale mysticism are combined in perfect proportions, possibly one of my top five reads of 2018 so far.

What an amazing book! The beauty of the cover and the summary really interested me and the story did not disappoint! It follows the story of Nour a young girl being displaced because of the crisis in Syria. In parallel it retells the fantastic and mythical story of Rawiya, based on a real cartographer.

It was well written, the point of view extremely touching, perfectly intertwining the two narratives and with wonderfully complex characters. I cried and I laughed, and I shook in fear and anger. Such a wonderful book. A must read to get a perspective on the refugees coming from Syria and all they go through to find safety.

I really can't describe how I feel now I've finished this book ... I'm bereft.

The parallel journey taken by Nour and Rawiya is breathtaking, heartbreaking, uplifting and inspiring. I just loved the way the two stories mingled and that is all down to Joukhadar's exquisite writing. Her beautiful, poetic prose and stunning use of imagery makes this book the best of the best, in my humble opinion. I quite literally fell in love with this story and it is easily the best book I have read so far this year. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Joukhadar, NetGalley and Touchstone for the opportunity to read it.

3.5 stars. Exquisite writing. I can't remember when last I read such beautiful descriptions. The author definitely has a way with words. She created such vivid, colourful images of all the places portrayed in the story. Nour's synesthesia also makes for very interesting descriptions. I felt deeply for everyone in her family, and the abrupt violence of war as well as the refugee experience are shared in a nondramatic, unforgettable way. Nothing but survival matters, they live from moment to moment. Heartbreaking with memorable characters. The reason this book did not get a higher rating is because the alternating story about Rawiya just wasn't in the same league as the contemporary narrative. There was no real connection between the two (except for geography), and I found myself skimming though the one so I could get to the other. That said I still highly recommend this debut and can't wait to see what this author does next.

The Story: The book follows the story of Nour, a Syrian-American girl living in New York. In 2011, after Nour loses her father to cancer, her mother decides to move the family back to Homs to be close to their extended family. But Nour’s arrival coincides with Syria’s slide into civil war. Amid grotesque violence, Nour is made a refugee, a traveler through Syria’s neighboring lands.
Almost a thousand years earlier, another girl’s story unfolds. Rawiya, seeking a better life for her mother, disguises herself as a boy and joins a legendary cartographer on a quest to map the known world

Two different narratives set 800 years apart make up this stunning debut work which floats somewhere between prose and poetic prose throughout..

This book has much in common with many post-diaspora Palestinian works dealing as it does with the internal and mental conflict between the the beauty of the ancient history of the middle east and the juxtaposition that is the modern day conflicts and harrowing scenes played out there on a now constant basis.

How do you mentally align such a beautiful history and past as is the Syrian experience from the SIlk Road traders and legends with such horror as is the refugee experience of today? The answer it seems, is you map out both times alongside one another.

Fascinating, unique and beautiful.

The Map of Salt and Stars deals with the current issue of immigration/emigration from Syria told from the perspective of a young Syrian girl named Nour.
What's most fascinating about this novel is that Nour's story is interwoven with a mythical story that her late father used to tell her of a young girl who disguises herself as a boy to go off on an adventure as an apprentice mapmaker. Without giving too much away, Nour ends up facing journey of her own and cleaves to this mythical tale as a source of inspiration and strength in overcoming her own troubles.

The reason I would rate 3* rather than 4/5* is that the writing style didn't quite do it for me. Although I can't really fault it technically, I just personally found it a little stunted for some reason.

Nonetheless, this is a very accomplished debut novel and it's already quite clear that it's going to do really well this year.

~Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am not associated with the author or publisher in any way. My opinion is completely unbiased and entirely my own~

This is such a beautifully written book. Telling two stories side by side throughout the book, one of three girls, with a focus on Nour who have left the US for Syria and the story of Rawiya who leaves home to discover the world and become a cartographer, these stories just bloom as this book goes on.

The story is beautifully written, descriptive and elegant. The Map Of Salt And Stars is really such a fantastic read and once you have started it is impossible to stop but also once finished really hard to stop thinking about - the plight Nour’s family goes through in this book grips your compassion and if it doesn’t make you want to do something, I don’t know what will.

The characters feel so relateable, though their situation is so different, characters such as Zahra and Nour remind me of me and my sister, we are so very different and I think that adds to the story and it makes you connect to it, empathising with the characters on another level.

A stunning book, you will find it difficult to forget it.

I am absolutely astounded by the beauty of this book - especially given the horror, pain and heartache of the plight of Syrian refugees which it depicts.
The author writes with such poetic lyricism that my eyes were filling and throat constricting from the very first paragraph of the novel - and the two strands of the tale, telling of two girls Nour and Rawiya, separated by some eight hundred years, while interesting and engaging in themselves, are woven together skilfully into an incredible piece of work which brings the reader to a closer understanding of the Syrian people....their lives, history and culture, their current terrible situation. If the writing and story here in 'The Map of Salt and Stars' does not pull at your heart, I'm not entirely sure that you have one!

Two stories from two different times that are interwoven. Fascinating and sad. Worth reading.

I just couldn’t get into this book at all, I can’t really say why except that I didn’t enjoy the writing style from the beginning. Disappointing as I was really looking forward to it following some good reviews.

This is a brilliantly written novel concerning the very current issue of the ongoing unrest in Syria and resulting migration of families as they flee homes which are destroyed. In fact there are two stories woven together in a current timeline alongside a centuries old timeline.

In the current timeline, we hear from Nour, a 12 year old girl, as she leaves Syria with her family and heads towards Ceuta, the Spanish town on the north African coast. The fascinating story of the family is told as they risk their lives to make the journey. They are separated and Nour and her sister Zahara follow the map painted by their mother.

At the same time, the centuries old timeline is recounted as though it is a traditionally told Syrian legend. This is a story Nour knows well, told to her by her late father. Rawiya leaves Ceuta and becomes a map makers apprentice, disguised as a young man. She travels extensively, researching geography, becoming an accomplished warrior and returning to the king of Sicily to complete the maps.

There are very clear parallels between the two stories and the novel switches between the two throughout. It is brilliantly written highlighting a current difficult issue in a unique way and should become a highly successful novel in 2018.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review