My Friends, by Hisham Matar

Three young men who can't return to their home in Libya find comfort in friendship.

It's 1984. Khaled has left his politically troubled home in Libya to study in England. At his friend Mustafa's suggestion, they attend a protest against the Libyan regime in London. They wear balaclavas to conceal their identity. To be discovered attending would make returning home next to impossible. They are elated to be doing their bit, trying to liberate their country from dictatorship under Gaddafi. But things take a bad turn when armed men – no doubt regime sympathisers or direct plants – start shooting into the crowd. Khaled is hurt – shot in the chest – and requires hospitalisation. He survives without major injuries or complications, but lives in fear of returning home. He must also keep his attendance at the protest a secret from his family.

Another plot involves Khaled's deep admiration for the writer Hosam Zowa, who he later befriends, and who becomes entwined in his circle.

Covering the period between 1984 and 2011, the year of Gaddafi's downfall and murder, My Friends speaks in the voice of a middle-aged man looking back on a life separated from home and family. It's a story of dislocation, fear and yearning, written in an elegiac prose that is intimate and personable. Hisham Matar has won many accolades for his writing, and fans will not be disappointed with this heartfelt exploration of loss and exile, one that is also filled with warmth and compassion.  

My Friends, by Hisham Matar. Published by Viking. $34.99

FEB24