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4.0 

On Fragile Waves

By E. Lily Yu
On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu digital book - Fable

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Publisher Description

NPR Books We Love 2021 | Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2021 | Booklist Best of 2021 | Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Titles | NYT Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2021 | Washington Independent Review of Books 51 Favorite Books of 2021

On Fragile Waves is a tremendous and almost unbearable work of witness. It is devastating and perfect.” — New York Times Book Review

The haunting story of a family of dreamers and tale-tellers looking for home in an unwelcoming world. This exquisite and unusual magic realist debut, told in intensely lyrical prose by an award winning author, traces one girl’s migration from war to peace, loss to loss, home to home.


Firuzeh and her brother Nour are children of fire, born in an Afghanistan fractured by war. When their parents, their Atay and Abay, decide to leave, they spin fairy tales of their destination, the mythical land and opportunities of Australia.

As the family journeys from Pakistan to Indonesia to Nauru, heading toward a hope of home, they must rely on fragile and temporary shelters, strangers both mercenary and kind, and friends who vanish as quickly as they’re found.

When they arrive in Australia, what seemed like a stable shore gives way to treacherous currents. Neighbors, classmates, and the government seek their own ends, indifferent to the family’s fate. For Firuzeh, her fantasy worlds provide some relief, but as her family and home splinter, she must surface from  these imaginings and find a new way.

 

60 Reviews

4.0
“*3.5 Firuzeh and Nour are born in an Afghanistan which is divided by war. Their parents started telling them tales to get them going and keep them distracted as they find themselves becoming refugees and trying to find a home in an Australia which is far away and not necessarily kind to them. I thought this book was lyrical and beautiful. When I picked it up, I thought this would just focus on the ‘refugee journey’ where the children are told stories and link fantasy to what they are going through, which I thought was so beautiful, but the Australia dimension was my favorite. Seeing how the bureaucracy for refugees works there and seeing how Firuzeh and Nour grew up there as refugees but also as the offspring of older parents who struggle with money and the language was really touching. In current times, we see refugees as a political matter. Movies like The Swimmers or books like this one should help humanize the people behind the word.”

About E. Lily Yu

E. Lily Yu is the Washington State Book Award and Artist Trust LaSalle Storyteller Award-winning author of On Fragile Waves, Jewel Box: Stories, and Break, Blow, Burn & Make. A recipient of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, she was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize, the World Fantasy Award, and the Washington State Book Award. Her stories have appeared in venues from McSweeney's to Tor.com, as well as thirteen best-of-the-year anthologies, and have been finalists for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Sturgeon, and World Fantasy Awards. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and can be found online at elilyyu.com.

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