CELEBRATING LONDON PRIDE: LOVE STARTS HERE
“I hailed a taxi outside Maj’s house and got into the backseat, as Teta directed me to do when riding in taxis alone. The man behind the wheel was young, though I couldn’t make out his age: perhaps 18, maybe 20. He was wearing a tight red T-shirt that gripped his body. He drove without speaking. A familiar pressure inside me began to build. It was a terrible choking sensation that had been growing in the months since I lost my parents. I had no control over my destiny, and everything around me could suddenly die or run away.”
Set in the aftermath of the 2011 revolutions, Saleem Haddad’s debut novel tells the story of a young gay man called Rasa living in an unnamed country during the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Set over one day and littered with flashbacks, it explores Rasa’s own personal turmoil over his grandmother discovering him in bed with his secret lover amid the political turmoil around him.
Saleem Haddad was born in Kuwait. He now lives in London, where he works as a conflict and security advisor, specializing in the Middle East.
