Today we want to introduce you to „Elsewhere, Home“ by Leila Aboulela, a Sudanese writer who lives in Aberdeen, Scotland. This biographical fact is a huge part of „Elsewhere, Home“ which was published in 2018. This novel is a collection of short stories of immigrants who are either visiting their home country after a long absence or are holding on the last thread of connection that reminds them of it.
The author’s writing style is incredible. The sorrow and pain that each protagonist feels makes the yearning for some sort of home a touchable feeling. While so many figures do not know how to adapt, assimilate or even move in Scotland because they are always perceived as aliens, others try their best to shed the last pieces of home country of them.
We read the stories of the young Egyptian woman who goes ‚back‘ to Egypt but she does not find her place there or the story of the Scotsman who is overwhelmed after visiting his fiancée’s family in Khartoum to hold for her hand in marriage. We also read of the the English woman who recently converted to Islam and thus, home becomes even more abstract now.
What these characters have in common is the sense of unease, longing, regret, hope, and loss. You will constantly ask yourself: What happens next?
Thank you Leila Aboulela for writing such an amazing piece of important literature.
