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The Road from Raqqa

A Story of Brotherhood, Borders, and Belonging

Jordan Ritter Conn

$55

Hardback

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English
Ballantine Books Inc.
21 October 2020
Crossing years and continents, the harrowing story of the road to reunion for two Syrian brothers who-despite diverging ideals, a homeland at war and an ocean between them-hold fast to the bonds of family.

The Alkasem brothers, Riyad and Bashar, spend their childhood in Raqqa, the city that would later became the capital of ISIS. As a teenager in the 1980s, Riyad witnesses the devastating aftermath of the Hama massacre-an atrocity by the Assad regime upon its people. Wanting to expand his notion of government and justice, Riyad moves to the United States to study the law, but his plans are derailed and he eventually falls in love with a Southern belle. They move to a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, where they raise two sons and where Riyad opens a restaurant-Cafe Rakka-cooking the food his grandmother used to make. But he finds himself confronted with the darker side of American freedoms- the hardscrabble life of a newly-arrived immigrant, enduring bigotry, poverty, and loneliness. Years pass, and at the height of Syria's civil war, fearing for his family's safety halfway across the world, he risks his own life by making a dangerous trip back to Raqqa.

Bashar, meanwhile, stayed in Syria. After his older brother moved to America, Bashar embarked on a brilliant legal career under the same corrupt Assad government that Riyad despised. Reluctant to abandon his comfortable (albeit conflicted) life, he fails to perceive the threat of ISIS until it's nearly too late.

The Road from Raqqa brings us into the lives of two brothers bound by their love for each other and for the war-ravaged city they call home. It's about a family caught in the middle of the most significant global events of the new millennium, America's fraught-but-hopeful relationship to its own immigrants, and the toll of dictatorship and war on everyday families. It's a book that captures all the desperation, tenacity, and hope that come with the revelation that we can find home in each other when the lands of our forefathers fail us.
By:  
Imprint:   Ballantine Books Inc.
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 235mm,  Width: 156mm,  Spine: 18mm
Weight:   501g
ISBN:   9781984817181
ISBN 10:   1984817183
Pages:   272
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Jordan Ritter Conn is a staff writer for The Ringer. He previously worked at Grantland and ESPN- The Magazine, and he has written for The New York Times and Sports Illustrated. His work has been cited or recognized by The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Slate.

Reviews for The Road from Raqqa: A Story of Brotherhood, Borders, and Belonging

The Road from Raqqa had me gripped from the first page. I couldn't put it down. It taught me a lot about a troubled political system that has led to one of the worst humanitarian crises of our times. But it is also about love and family, about tradition and new horizons and the deep complexities of our own fears and hopes. --Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo A work of dazzling emotional power--a gorgeously written exploration of how we cope with seismic loss and how we muster the strength to build again . . . You will come away from this book in awe of its characters' resilience, as well as grateful for Jordan Ritter Conn's loving devotion to the art of journalism. --Brendan I. Koerner, author of The Skies Belong to Us Jordan Ritter Conn has constructed an achingly beautiful story that, by some miracle, takes in the epic sweep of the modern Middle East, the continuous whiplash of immigrant life in America, and the depths of brotherly love. --Steve Fainaru, author of League of Denial Stunning . . . Jordan Ritter Conn has taken a true story, in some ways so simple--two brothers taking different paths in a world shattered by politics and war--and layered within it a profound meditation on family, freedom, human resilience, and home. --Evan Ratliff, author of The Mastermind Jordan Ritter Conn writes with a novelist's grace, giving us both sides of the family's epic migration story as the brothers find themselves on opposing sides of global conflict and keep trying to find each other again and again, despite the way the world pulls them in different directions. I couldn't put it down. --Helen Thorpe, author of The Newcomers A poignant debut . . . Fluidly written and emotionally powerful, this page-turner reveals the human cost of war, terrorism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration rhetoric. Readers will find despair and hope in this moving account. --Publishers Weekly Syrian brothers take different paths of immigration, neither easy, in this thoughtful account. . . . [Jordan Ritter] Conn's affecting narrative touches deeply not just on these contrasting immigration issues . . . but also on how the bonds of family and old community can exist even when people are uprooted. --Kirkus Reviews


  • Short-listed for Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction 2021

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