From International Booker Prize-winning author of Celestial Bodies and Bitter Orange Tree, a new novel about two Omani women whose unbreakable connection is forged as nursing sisters — a bond considered akin to that of a birth sibling.

Raised as sisters, Ghazaala is devastated when her friend Asiya is forced to leave their small mountainside village. It is a separation that haunts her into adulthood, and she never gives up on finding a love that might replace the bond they shared.

Years later, Ghazaala’s family moves to Muscat, where she falls in love with a professional violinist who lives in their building. She surrenders herself completely to his charm and, despite her parents’ opposition, runs away from home to marry him. While balancing the duties of a new wife — caring for her husband, their home, and, before long, their twin boys — Ghazaala resumes her education and enrolls in university.

Ghazaala’s sharp wit catches the attention of another student, Harir, during their freshman year. In the pages of her diary, Harir recounts the story of her deepening, transformative friendship with Ghazaala over the course of ten years. The elusive, ghostly existence of Asiya exerts a force over both their lives, yet neither Ghazaala nor Harir is aware of the connection.

From the brilliant mind of Jokha Alharthi comes a tale of childhood friendship, and how its significance — and loss — can be recalibrated at different stages of life.