Set against the poignant background of political exile in Cairo, this deeply moving and psychological literary novel explores the profound weight of grief, family secrets, and the enduring shadow of absence. The story follows a young boy named Nuri who is left completely devastated by the sudden, untimely death of his mother, an event that leaves a vast emptiness within their shared apartment. His isolated world completely shifts during a summer holiday when he encounters Mona, an alluring young woman whose presence instantly captivates him. However, it is Nuri’s father, a prominent political dissident living in exile from his unnamed homeland, who wins Mona’s heart and ultimately marries her. Struggling with complex feelings of jealousy and betrayal, Nuri secretly wishes his father would simply vanish, a dark thought he will soon come to deeply regret. Shortly after Nuri is sent to a boarding school in London, his father is mysteriously abducted by regime agents, shattering the fragile life he shared with his stepmother. Left alone to navigate a sea of unspoken truths, Nuri and Mona embark on a decade-long emotional quest for answers, only to uncover profound political secrets and private realities about the complex man they both loved.