Yahya

About this book

Do people inherit constraints as they inherit names and faces? Beginning among the Rif Mountains, Yahya links the story of a young elephant conditioned by a weak wooden stake to communities held back by a learned conviction of powerlessness. From Tetouan to Sabra and Shatila, Afghanistan, Gaza, Chechnya, Bosnia, and the Central African Republic, human destinies intersect across decades and borders. History is experienced through ordinary lives, grieving families, and children left to defend their existence. This expansive novel asks whether people will remain trapped in the role of victim—or find the courage to uproot the stake and move toward a different dawn.