A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX FEMINA AND THE PRIX MEDICIS WINNER OF THE PRIX DU MEILLEUR LIVRES ETRANGER CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF 2020 BY THE SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER, GUARDIAN, i PAPER, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, SCOTSMAN, IRISH TIMES, BBC.COM, WATERSTONES.COM A wondrous book. It left me hopeful; this is its gift Elizabeth Strout An empathy engine ... It is, itself, an agent of change New York Times Book Review A quite extraordinary novel Kamila Shamsie How do we continue living once we have lost our reason to live? Rami and Bassam live in the city of Jerusalem - but exist worlds apart, divided by an age-old conflict. And yet they have one thing in common. Both are fathers; both are fathers of daughters - and both daughters are now lost. When Rami and Bassam meet, and tell one another the story of their grief, the most unexpected thing of all happens: they become best of friends. And their stories become one story, a story with the power to heal - and the power to change the world. The book goes anywhere and everywhere. It is a delirious and thrilling improvisation, a jazz solo spun out of that meeting ... A spectacular structure of stories about everything Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times