The Year of Numbers
Author: Paulina
Wyrzykowski
Working with an NGO gathering
personal war-horror stories from Cairo's besieged and undocumented
refugee communities, Genevieve, a young Canadian, discovers
uncertainties too dangerous to share, especially between
lovers.
"The first time I read The Year
of Numbers, I knew my biggest challenge would be
to stay out of the author’s way," says editor
Kerry J. Schooley. "Normally it's the editor's job
to impart clarity and precision to a manuscript, but I quickly
recognized Paulina's skill in bringing readers to not just
understand, but to feel doubt and insecurity. I haven't
read another author who so skilfully creates this atmosphere
of dreaded ambiguity except, perhaps, John le Carré."
It's clear the author loves Cairo. Evocative passages describe
its people, fashions, architecture, foods and colours. It
is a city of possibilities as well as uncertainties. Readers
will feel the dust between sandaled toes in the dry heat
of day and shiver at the cold tiles beneath naked feet crossing
the floor at night. The Year of Numbers
is a feast for the senses and creates a moving, exotic experience
for readers.
Paulina Wyrzykowski has written
a remarkable and poignant novel, a story of love and memory
set among Cairo's African asylum seekers, deftly blending
her narrative with the crosscurrents and horror of modern
refugee life. It is hard to put down.
~ Caroline Moorehead, Biographer and
author of Human Cargo
Wyrzykowski's unexpected page-turner
ventures into the painful silences that arise when two people
cross boundaries and become refugees – from their
countries, from their upbringing… and from conventional
expectations. A must read.
~ Chris Dolan, PhD, Director of Refugee
Law Project, Kampala, Uganda
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