A Sky So Close

Original title: Kam Badat al-Sama’ Qareebah!! Khedairi’s unnamed narrator, like the author, is the daughter of an Iraqi father and a Scottish mother; neither can bear to live in the other’s country. The girl discovers that growing up between two cultures means growing up in neither, means being a stranger—however well-disguised—in both houses, and ultimately means making a home in homelessness itself. This is a poignant and honest story of coming of age.