Courageous ‘No Land to Light On’ explores loss, love and refugees
Between Syria and the US, in the throes of political upheaval across continents, comes “No Land to Light On” by Yara Zgheib. Sama Zayat and Hadi Deeb, both from worlds that have fractured but for their memories, attempt to pursue dreams and survive thousands of miles from a war they cannot escape. Between 2011 and 2017, they experienced civil war, displacement, and Executive Order 13769, which came to be known in the media as the “Muslim Ban.” Their lives as refugees and students continue to hover in limbo despite the home they have made for themselves and the lives they have fought for.
Readers first meet Harvard
PhD student Sama Zayat at Logan Airport in Massachusetts while waiting for her husband Hadi to arrive from Jordan. Heavily pregnant, Sama finds herself in the middle of protestors opposing Executive Order 13769, which banned travelers from predominantly Muslim majority countries from arriving in the US and suspended entry to Syrian refugees in 2017. Shifting back and forth between first-person narratives of husband and wife, Zgheib’s novel builds slowly and ominously as the delayed arrival of Hadi leads to her early labor, pulling Sama in two opposing directions.
As their future hangs in the balance, both husband and wife relive past traumas and joys, all of which have led them to this point. Their lives have been twisted and transformed and have become so fragile that days and months can mean the difference between luck and misfortune, hope and misery, and love and loss.
The connection between humans and the avian migratory journey of birds — that Sama is writing her PhD on — are woven together. In both species, those who are brave enough embark on a journey to seek out a new place to call home.
Zgheib writes a hauntingly beautiful and courageous tale that sheds light on the plight of displaced people and refugees. Sama and Hadi, who share the same moments but have very different experiences, live out a tragically painful narrative. Zgheib’s novel highlights the reality that politics often forgets — there are human consequences to decisions made by international leaders. She boldly explores the spectrums of loss, migration and love in a narrative that will leave readers mulling over what it means to be a refugee.