Anatomy of a Disappearance

2013 Longlist

In Egypt, Nuri, a teenage boy, falls in love with Mona – the woman his father will marry. Consumed with longing, Nuri wants to get his father out of the way – to take his place in Mona’s heart. But when his father disappears, Nuri regrets what he wished for. Alone, he and Mona search desperately for the man they both love. Only for Nuri to discover a silence he cannot break and unimaginable secrets his father never wanted him to know.

(From Publisher)

About the Author

Hisham Matar was born in New York City to Libyan parents and spent his childhood first in Tripoli and then in Cairo. His first novel, In the Country of Men (2006), won six international literary awards and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, The Guardian First Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Hisham Matar lives in London.

Librarians’ Comments

Anatomy of a Disappearance is one of those books that you can’t put down, and if you do put it down, you can’t wait to get back to it. Beautifully written – suspenseful – brings “careful of what you wish for” to a whole new level.

Hisham Matar’s semi-autobiographical novel of a father-son relationship set against the backdrop of Gaddafi’s Libya is an intriguing story of love, loss and despair.