Sulaiman Addonia’s Orwell Prize for Fiction longlisted second novel of love, judgment and sacrifice
In a time of war, what is the shape of love?
Saba arrives in an East African refugee camp as a young girl, devastated to have been wrenched from school and forced to abandon her books as her family flees to safety. In this unfamiliar, crowded and often hostile space, she must carve out a new existence. As she struggles to maintain her sense of self, she remains fiercely protective of her mute brother, Hagos — each sibling resisting the roles gender and society assign.
Through a cast of complex, beautifully drawn characters, Sulaiman Addonia questions what it means to be a man, to be a woman, to be an individual when circumstance has forced the loss of all that makes a home or a future.
Praise
‘Gripping and courageous . . . A feminist book, and, exhilaratingly, so much more.’
—Guardian
‘[A] richly written second novel, which brims with the sensory flavours of remembered experience.’
—Daily Mail
‘Stunning. At once sensuous and provocative . . . a splendid, compulsive reading experience’
—Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King
‘Makes sensual, evocative poetry of the deepest, fiercest emotions’
—The Big Issue
Jamil Jan Kochai for The New York Times, 15th September 2020: ‘In This Novel of Exile, Sulaiman Addonia Writes From Experience’
BellaNaija, 17th December 2019: ‘Book of the Month’
Sulaiman Addonia for Brittle Paper, 4th December 2019: ‘The Voices I Overcame To Write Silence Is My Mother Tongue’
Abubakar Adam for The Lagos Review, 17th November 2019: ‘Silence is My Mother Tongue: Review’
Preti Taneja for New Statesman, 13th November 2019: ‘Books of the year 2019’
Sulaiman Addonia for Granta, 23rd October 2019: ‘In Search Of Beauty: Blackness As A Poem in Saudi Arabia’
Sulaiman Addonia for passa porta, 2nd October 2019: ‘For Virginia Woolf’
Alessandra Bassey for Literandra, 21st September 2019: ‘Review: Silence is My Mother Tongue’
Alastair Mabbott for The Herald Scotland, 20th July 2019: ‘Paperbacks: A Breath On Dying Embers; Lying For Money; Silence Is My Mother Tongue’
BBC World Service, 16th July 2019: Sulaiman Addonia speaks about his writing journey, living with his grandma, the life of his mother, and the secret library in Saudi Arabia(27:41-44-31)
RFI, Africa: Stories in the 55, 27th February 2019: ‘Life and sensuality in a refugee camp in Sulaiman Addonia’s “Silence is My Mother Tongue”’
Ilham Essalih for The New Arab, 6th February 2019: ‘Silence is My Mother Tongue: Exile, survival and breaking the shackles of traditionalism’
Jane Housham for The Guardian, 14th December 2018: ‘Silence Is My Mother Tongue by Sulaiman Addonia review – life in exile’
Review 31, 12th December 2018: ‘Review 31’s Best Books of 2018′
Ainehi Edore for Brittle Paper, 3rd December 2018: ‘#WeLoveBooks | Silence is My Mother Tonge by Sulaiman Addonia’
Sian Cain for The Guardian, 21st November 2019: ‘Murder, migration and mother love: the making of the novelist Sulaiman Addonia’
Jane Graham for The Big Issue, 6th November 2018: ‘Review: Silence is My Mother Tongue by Sulaiman Addonia’
Claire Allfree for Daily Mail, 1st November 2018: ‘Literary Fiction’
Susan Osborn for A Life in Books, 26th October 2018: ‘Silence is My Mother Tongue by Sulaiman Addonia: The quiet power of the novella’
Sulaiman Addonia for Granta, 23rd October 2018: ‘Writing Like Degas Paints: Sulaiman Addonia on how Edgar Degas’ nude portraits inspired his latest novel, Silence is My Mother Tongue’
Emma Clarendon for Love London Love Culture, 6th October 2018: ‘Review: Silence is My Mother Tongue’