In an unnamed coastal city, a haven for refugees, a mother's desperate search for her missing daughter unfolds. Her frantic cries echo along the cliffside road where her child once worked, a poignant soundtrack to her dwindling hope. Overwhelmed by grief, she casts herself into the unforgiving sea, leaving her other children to face a profound absence.
This devastating act is witnessed by another woman, a visitor from a distant land, herself carrying the weight of a painful journey. Pregnant and later enduring the heartbreak of a stillborn child, her personal loss rekindles dormant memories—a litany of past displacements, of a language, a country, and an identity lost when her own family fled a distant war.
Balsam Karam, one of Sweden's most compelling contemporary voices, masterfully intertwines these two narratives. Through rich, looping prose, The Singularity offers an astounding and deeply moving exploration of grief, migration, and motherhood. This novel is a powerful testament to the enduring echoes of trauma and the complex search for belonging in a world of constant change.
‘The Singularity, the second novel (and first to be published in English) by Balsam Karam … is evidence of the unique genius of human creativity…. Language is at the heart of The Singularity, moving as it does from chaos and cacophony to the simple purity of a single voice, which is one measure of its brilliance and its beauty.’ John Self, Observer
‘The two narratives refract and then come together in a poetic convergence. There is a haunting, hushed tone to the novel, neatly evoked by Saskia Vogel’s translation from the Swedish, that probes the disorienting effects of exile.’ Anderson Tepper, New York Times
‘Karam is a terrific prose stylist. Many of her sentences are surprising in their syntactical innovation and unique poetic rhythm. Like Virginia Woolf, Karam is interested in fragments, and in how they can fit and flow together. There is a choral quality to her writing, and a rich philosophical undertow to many of her observations…. The Singularity sweeps us along, offering profound wisdoms on motherhood and migration, war, home and grief.’ Yagnishsing Dawoor, Times Literary Supplement
Physical Info: 4.92 x 0.41 x 7.76 inches | 194 Pages | Paperback