Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Fiction & Related items

THE REFUGEE OCEAN

Pauls Toutonghi

A haunting novel about two refugees in America who find that their lives are inextricably linked - over time and distance - by the perils of history and a single song.

Born in Beirut in 1922, Marguerite Toutoungi lives a life of loss and sacrifice. She dreams of traveling to Europe and studying music at the Conservatoire de Paris but her family - and her society - hold her back. When she meets the son of a Cuban tobacco farmer at a formal dance, love transforms her life. Together with him, she flees across the Pacific Ocean. She's hoping for a new beginning. Instead, she finds revolution and chaos.

Over fifty years later, Naïm Rahil is a teenage refugee from Aleppo, Syria. A former piano prodigy who struggles to thrive in America - and who has lost part of his hand in the war - he dreams of a simple, normal life.

Moving from Aleppo on the brink of civil war, to Lebanon in the late 1940s, to Havana during the Cuban Revolution, to the suburbs of Washington, DC, The Refugee Ocean grapples with what it means to be an immigrant, shows how wounds can heal, and highlights the role of music and art in the resilience of the human spirit.

The Refugee Ocean is inspired by the author's own family history - his father was a refugee from the Middle East and his mother from Latvia. Specifically, Marguerite's character is loosely based on the author's cousin.

Beirut, Havana, Aleppo, Washington DC. Through this sweeping novel these four cities full of history and intrigue are brought to life.

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Book Published 2023-10-01 by Simon & Schuster

Comments

In this timely and beautifully written book, Pauls Toutonghi offers a riveting portrayal of the refugee experience and a testimony to the enduring nature of art. I was swept up in the lives of these characters and deeply touched by their stories. This novel is itself a lovely and humane work of art.

From its opening paragraph to its shattering last line, The Refugee Ocean had me in a thrall. Deeply humane, and written in elegant, understated prose, this is a novel with old-fashioned sweep and texture, yet it always feels burningly relevant. Pauls Toutonghi, take a bow.

There is a tender fearlessness that runs through The Refugee Ocean, a book as unflinching in its depiction of conflict as it is anchored to the healing power of art. Pauls Toutonghi has written such a richly imagined and emotionally complex story set where the grand sweep of history collides with the innate human desire for shelter, connection and beauty. The result is an unforgettable novel about the way the lives of the displaced can echo through decades and across oceans, the way we are, even or perhaps especially when unanchored from the places of our birth, bound to one another.