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My Name Is Salma
My Name Is Salma
Jan 13, 2026 6:36 AM

Author:Fadia Faqir

My Name Is Salma

When Salma becomes pregnant before marriage in her small village in the Levant, her innocent days playing the pipe for her goats are gone for ever. She is swept into prison for her own protection. To the sound of her screams, her newborn baby daughter is snatched away.

In the middle of the most English of towns, Exeter, she learns good manners from her landlady, and settles down with an Englishman. But deep in her heart the cries of her baby daughter still echo. When she can bear them no longer, she goes back to her village to find her. It is a journey that will change everything - and nothing.

Slipping back and forth between the olive groves of the Levant and the rain-slicked pavements of Exeter, My Name is Salma is a searing portrayal of a woman's courage in the face of insurmountable odds.

Reviews

Fadia Faqir's captivating new novel deals with the timeless themes of unforgiveness, friendship and travel. Exquisitely woven, laced with humour and social awareness, it hums with the futility of erasing the past.

—— Leila Aboulelah, author of THE MINARET

Vividly expresses the horror of lives oppressed by archaic patriarchal honour codes

—— Financial Times

Exquisite ... As Salma's life moves toward its inevitable climax, readers will be transfixed

—— US Library Journal

Tender and perceptive

—— Good Housekeeping

This tender and vivid novel of an exiled Arab woman's life in Britain, and memories of trauma at home, connects desert to Devon with warmth and wit

—— Independent

Urgent and enquiring

—— Lesley McDowell , Independent on Sunday

There are some moving passages, notably his father's arresting deathbed monologue about the racism and brutality he endured in an unfairly hard life

—— Daniel Bolger , The Irish Times

Phillips subtly conveys a changing sense of attitude and perspective... It is a bleak message, brilliantly delivered

—— Herald

Praise for Liane Moriarty

—— -

Every single one of her books is a great read

—— E! Online

Staggeringly brilliant, literally unputdownable

—— Sophie Hannah

Keeps you guessing until the very end - perfect summer read

—— Reese Witherspoon

Moriarty writes vividly, wittily and wickedly

—— Sunday Express

The writing is beautiful: sometimes funny, sometimes sad but always compelling

—— Good Housekeeping

Like drinking a pink cosmo laced with arsenic . . . a fun, engaging and sometimes disturbing read

—— USA Today

Riveting drama packed with suspense and secrets

—— Woman & Home

Wise, honest, beautifully observed. One of the few writers I'll drop anything for

—— Jojo Moyes

Straight-from-life characters, knife-sharp insight and almost unbearable suspense will have you racing through it

—— Good Housekeeping

Perfect

—— Hello!

A hell of a good book. Funny and scary

—— Stephen King

A cracking story cleverly told

—— Fabulous

Fascinating and compassionate

—— Daily Telegraph
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