Synopses & Reviews
"A tragedy for our time." Kirkus Reviews"Mazzantinis lyrical novel puts a human face on migration and displacement." Booklist
When Farids beautiful young mother Jamila tries to escape Libya by boat, it is the first time that Farid will see the sea. This is the same sea into which Vito stares from a beach on the opposite side Farid and Jamilas destination. But unfortunately, the Mediterranean does not fulfill its promise of a new life for the two young refugees. Instead, it becomes their prison.
A tale of moving intensity, Morning Sea is about human migration. It is about the fate of those exiled from their houses, relatives, and roots; about the violence of nature and war; and about the strength of women compelled by injustice to defend their childrens futures. With terse and astute language, Mazzantini captures perfectly the dark, uncertain quality of our times. She asks: when must we commit ourselves to the right of all humans to live with dignity and respect?
Review
"A tragedy for our times."
Kirkus Reviews
"Mazzantinis lyrical novel puts a human face on migration and displacement."
Booklist
"This intense work of fiction focuses on the human spirit in times of ultimate uncertainty while navigating the rough waters of exile, political turmoil, and two families who are struggling to find what is home.” By using the sea as a tool to distance people yet bring them together, Mazzantini reveals how the Italian and Libyan states in chaos influence family life and survival.”
World Literature Today
"As always, Mazzantini finds the words to express the pain and suffering of the defeated, those forgotten at the margins of history."
Le Monde des Livre
"A small book about a great catastrophe, a document of our time."
Buchmark
"The crystalline beauty of Morning Sea is a peculiar trait of Margaret Mazzantini."
Livres Hebdo
"One of Mazzantinis best books. A turning point."
Il Messaggero
"Broken destinies, textures, colours and smells a universe of sensations criss-crossed by powerful, often heart-breaking, images."
Le Points
Synopsis
"A tragedy for our time." --Kirkus Reviews "Mazzantini's lyrical novel puts a human face on migration and displacement." --Booklist
When Farid's beautiful young mother Jamila tries to escape Libya by boat, it is the first time that Farid will see the sea. This is the same sea into which Vito stares from a beach on the opposite side -- Farid and Jamila's destination. But unfortunately, the Mediterranean does not fulfill its promise of a new life for the two young refugees. Instead, it becomes their prison.
A tale of moving intensity, Morning Sea is about human migration. It is about the fate of those exiled from their houses, relatives, and roots; about the violence of nature and war; and about the strength of women compelled by injustice to defend their children's futures. With terse and astute language, Mazzantini captures perfectly the dark, uncertain quality of our times. She asks: when must we commit ourselves to the right of all humans to live with dignity and respect?
Synopsis
When the Water is Safer than the Land As Gaddafi clings to power in Libya, Farid and his mother Jamila chance their luck on the hazardous crossing to Sicily. But as they hunker down in a trafficker's battered old boat, the vastness of the Mediterranean begins to dawn. Meanwhile, in Sicily, Vito wanders the desolate beaches recalling his mother's stories of her idyllic childhood in Libya. She has never forgotten - nor forgiven - the forces that tore her from her childhood love, a young Arab boy whose fate was very different from her own.
Moving back and forth between the continents, this deeply moving portrait focuses on two families and one stretch of water, and in terse, lyrical language, captures perfectly the dark, uncertain quality of our times.
About the Author
Margaret Mazzantini was born in Dublin and now lives in Rome. She trained as an actress but left the stage to concentrate on writing. Her first novel, Dont Move, won the prestigious Strega Prize and sold over two million copies; her second novel, Twice Born, sold over 1 million copies in Italy and has since been made into a film starring Penélope Cruz.