The Solace of Trees

A Bosnian War orphan of Muslim heritage escapes his homeland, finds a new family in New England, and learns to deal with his trauma--and years later falls into the depths of post-9/11 America's extraordinary rendition program. A piercing and resonant debut novel about war and the endurance of the human spirit, and a cautionary tale about the damage that can be inflicted upon war victims when wealthy nations become obsessed with self-protection and retribution. This book contains an author Q&A at the back, and so is ideal for book group adoption and discussion. The Solace of Trees tells the story of Amir, a young boy of secular Muslim heritage who witnesses his family's murder in the Bosnian War. Amir hides in a forest, mute and shocked, among refugees fleeing for their lives. Narrowly escaping death while wandering through rural Bosnia, he finds sanctuary in a UN camp. After a charity relocates him to the United States, the retired professor who fosters Amir learns that the boy holds a shameful secret concerning his parents' and sister's deaths. Amir's years in the US bring him healing and a loving place in a new family. In college he falls in love⎯and he accepts the request of a professor of Islamic studies to edit a documentary film on the plight of Palestinians. 9/11 comes, and with it, the arrest of the professor for his ties to terrorist organizations. As Amir enters adulthood, his destiny brings him full circle back to the darkness he thought he'd forever escaped. For fans of Sara Novic's Girl at War, Kenan Trebincevic's The Bosnia List, and Steven Galloway's The Cellist of Sarajevo.