The Return

A moving, unflinching memoir of a family torn apart

Kazuo Ishiguro, Guardian

Cutting back and forth in time between the near present, Mr. Matar's childhood memories of growing up in Libya, and pieced-together accounts of his father's work as an opposition leader and his imprisonment . . . At once, a suspenseful detective story about a writer investigating his father's fate at the hands of a brutal dictatorship, and a son's efforts to come to terms with his father's ghost, who has haunted more than half his life by his absence. A haunting memoir about one family, and one son's search for his father

New York Times

Moving, truly remarkable, thrilling, gripping. From his anger, suffering, and grief, Matar has built a testament to his father, his family and his country

Daily Telegraph

Matar has forged a memoir that in its nuance and nobility bears unforgettable witness to love, to courage and to humanity

Financial Times

A story of terrible deeds, but also a tale of mighty love, loyalty and courage. It must be read

Spectator

Matar's book is bound by a magnificent gentleness, a softness and care the readers experience as a blessing. Where did it come from, this humanity, this wisdom? Straight-backed; dignified; worn down, and yet so generously and miraculously easy on the page

Observer

I love this book more than I can put into words. It is stunning, brilliant, touching, proud and noble. A hymn to a father and to decency itself, in the midst of hell. And a total work of art

James Rebanks

A masterful memoir, a searing meditation on loss, exile, grief, guilt, belonging and, above all, family. In The Return, Matar's sentences are a testimony to the love of a son for his father, and the power of art in a tortured, crumbling world

Sunday Times

One of the essential books of our times

Adam Foulds