No Land to Light On is a heartbreaking look into the lives of what would have been thousands of refugees during the appalling Trump border closing in 2017.
This is the story of a young couple, Hadi and Sama, ripped apart by the ban.
It's told in two perspectives, and two times.
In the past, we meet Hadi running for his life from Syria- he's granted immigrant status but feels inescapable guilt for leaving Syria, and his family, behind.
Sama's story is different. She left before the War, before the ban, before anyone knew danger would come to Damascus. All she wanted was the chance to study; the pages are interspersed with pages from her thesis.
Across the years and months, Sama and Hadi meet and fall in love. They have a small apartment, and although life in a foreign country is difficult they're happy. With a child on the way, the couple seem to have found the so-called American Dream.
Until Hadi's father dies. Until he tries to come home to America and is banned. Until he's forced to sign a waiver banning him from re-entering the country. Until, Sama gives birth alone and friendless.
Thus begins the devastating reality of so many innocent families torn apart by the border controls.
Hadi was lied to, threatened and extorted, treated as sub-human because he dared to leave a warzone for safety. Zgeib doesn't shy away from the harshest truths of American border control, and No Land to Light On was vastly improved by this.
Her writing is so beautiful, almost poetic in places but filled with so much emotion.
I really, really liked this. No Land to Light on should become a modern classic, and a reminder of the appalling indifference of the US towards the innocents in war-torn countries.