No Land to Light On is a powerful and very touching story. Sama and Hadi a Yrian couple both came to the U.S for better lives. Hadi gets caught up in the 2017 travel ban coming home from his fathers funeral. Sama five months pregnant is stuck alone outside waiting unaware that of Hadi’s detainment.
Yara Zgheib’s writing is beautiful and powerful. I truly felt the pain for each character and felt that the story is a true eye opener. Understanding a little what immigrants especially refugees have to go through is heartbreaking.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for providing me with an ARC. The thoughts in this review are my own.

A short but very powerful and multi-thematic read.
The consequential event in the book is Trump’s 2017 Muslim Travel Ban, and the havoc it creates for the newly married Syrian couple, she(Sami) in Boston for many years and he Hadi) newly arrived under the Syrian refugee status.A searing look into the process of immigration and the bureaucratic ordeal it entails,and as vivid a description of the Syrian civil war that you will read, told through the hardships of several families.
The story of their prematurely born child and the stress for the devastated mother,spending endless days on a couch in the waiting room and dependent on the kindness of strangers, is deeply touching and emotional.
The book is written with a series of “ flashbacks” to different years/ time periods/ points of view.
This is a style I normally dislike,but somehow seemed totally apropos to this book.
Quite good, quite moving , very touching-in short, a good read.

In this heartbreakingly beautiful story we are introduced to Hadi and Sama. Both are from Syria, Hadi fairly new to America. Hadi's father dies just before his visa interview and Hadi flies back for the funeral, leaving a pregnant Sama at home in Boston. During this time (2017 so we know what we're talking about without saying its name) the president of the United States signs executive order 13769, no one from many Arab countries are allowed to immigrate to the good old USA. Hadi is not allowed to enter the US and is forced to sign a form rescinding his visa and is then sent back to Syria with a stop over in Jordan.

Yara Zgheib's beautiful writing sucked me in right away and the story kept me there. As sad as this book was there were many joyful moments as well. We learn how this loving couple met, we get a bit of background on both and of course there is the birth of their baby. It was a nice touch the way the book told the story from both points of view, neither had it an easy time of it. Even though immigration was a political hot topic for the former guy I didn't find this book to come from a political standpoint, it was such a personal story and I appreciated that. I am a born and raised Canadian and was deported from the USA in 2008 because my visa expired five days previously. I had to leave my husband there (he's an American) even though we were married we had to start the whole process over again and it took such a long time, 14 months...My marriage didn't survive. This book really moved me and is deserving of All. The. Stars.

In her follow-up novel to The Girls of 17 Swann Street, Zgheib once again shows a deft hand at telling a story simply and yet with powerful and raw emotions. The story itself is completely different, focusing on the romance and forced separation of Sama and Hadi, who immigrated to the United States from Syria. When Hadi goes home for the funeral of his father, his return back to his home with Sama in Boston is abruptly halted by the executive order of President Trump that restricts any passengers arriving from countries perceived to be hotbeds of terrorism - including Syria. To make matters more difficult, the shock and stress of separation leads a pregnant Sama to go into early labor and deliver their son, alone. By focusing both on the arrivals of Sama and Hadi to the United States, and the trauma caused by an action unconcerned with individual consequences for innocent people, Zgheib shows the beauty and joy of experiencing a land of plenty for the first time, where people have food to eat and don't have to worry about bombs and mortars, to the isolation and terror that comes when you are feared and hated because of where you come from. The author also manages to weave in several other elements beautifully - the superiority of people with power, the selflessness and and support from people that Sama and Hadi know that aren't judging them on their origin, religion, language or skin color, but purely on their character. Last but not least, the tie-in to migratory birds shows the restlessness of an immigrant-no longer a person of their own country, but also never belonging to where they end up either. A beautiful and powerful story, and another success for Zgheib! A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you did not have any feelings about the travel ban before, this book will cause you to have them. It is a heartbreaking book about a refugee couple separated because of the travel ban. The writing is beautiful and the pacing is terrific. I have a feeling that a LOT of people will love this book in January when it is released. Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this digital ARC.

This was my first book to read by this author but I cannot wait to read more! The characters stay with you long after you finish the book. Such a great story and fast read. Highly recommend!!!

Told from the perspective of Hadi and Sama we get their back story, how they both ended up in the US and how they fell in love. The narration goes between present and past so as a reader you are full immersed into how both characters are dealing with the current situation.

The author pulled on your heart strings the entire time. You will finish this book with tears running down your face! An impactful and important read!

A Syrian couple living in the United States is torn apart by the 2017 travel ban. This beautifully written book book was very real and timely and hard to read a times - covering trauma during pregnancy, separation and thorny immigrant issues.

A poetic but heartbreaking story. Sama and Hadi are Syrian refugees who meet in Boston where Sama is attending school on a scholarship to study bird migration. Hadi ends up there after fleeing Syria before he is arrested for no apparent reason. The book covers about three years, Sama and Hadi’s backstories in 2015, their budding relationship in 2016 and Hadi’s forced deportation when he returns to Boston following his father’s funeral in Syria in early 2017, a victim of Trump’s travel ban on several middle eastern countries. While Sama waiting for Hadi at the airport in Boston, she goes into premature labor,delivering their son at only 28 weeks.
The writing is very good in describing both Hadi’s and Sama’s anguish in being separated at such a crucial time. The narratives around their inner thoughts makes the reader actually feel their despair. The sections of the book describing bird migration is an excellent technique to mirror the difficulties that immigrants and refugees face all over the world but especially hits home for the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Wow what a heart wrenching book. These stories are of a huge issue that still is taking place today. A family, trying to make a life and all the hardship they are going through.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

This story is proof that a talented writer can pack a powerful punch in a short book. This book immediately captured my attention and did not let go of my heart until the end. A Syrian refuge is deported due to political turmoil in the United States (based on historical fact), and is forced away from his wife who is pregnant; this love story will either end in heartbreak or redemption. So many relevant themes, including immigration, loss, and prematurity; the writing was beautiful, poetic at times, with interesting and poignant analogies. I could not wait to find out what happened at the end, but also wanted to savor every word along the way. I could not recommend this book by the author of The Girls at 17 Swann Street (another amazing book!) more!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced reader’s copy of this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy

This is not my typical genre, but I really enjoyed this book. I flew right through it.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4289395700
Set in the first hours and days of the Muslim Travel Ban in 2017, this heart wrenching and beautiful novel effectively details the chaos and hopelessness of those affected, especially in the immediate aftermath of the ban. This novel will stay with me for awhile.

A sweet, sad, and unique love story. It's a quick read and a real heartbreaker. I think I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to have a taste of what trump's antics meant for those unfortunate Syrian refugees caught up in it. It's important history that we should remember and Zgheib has presented it in an effective way.
Your heart simply breaks reading about the plight of these young people and their families. I look forward to reading more from this author.

There are some stories make your heart bleed and make you cry till you have no tears left to shed! The words inside of them like tiny glass particles deeply stab you and leave invisible scars in your soul.

Sama and Hadi’s heartbreaking, tear jerking, sad story is one of them. Two beautiful souls immigrated to the states to start over, building a new life, declaring their own freedom, piling up new memories by discovering different places of Boston or rediscovering the city by looking from their special perspective. They tried to bottle up good feelings by experiencing different taste, different routines to write their special love story. They get married and Sama ( her name means the sky in Arabic) gets pregnant, expecting their son.

Hadi’s father sudden death before his visa appointment at Jordan embassy changes everything traumatically: Hadi flies to Amman to attend the funeral and Sama wants to surprise him by welcoming her husband at the airport: but he never comes out. He calls her and tells her he’s been stopped at the customs department for detention alongside nearly 40 people, stuck in the place, barely breathing properly, trapped in a timeless, nightmarish limbo.

In the meantime, Sama finds herself in the middle of airport protest, getting hurt, holding her abdomen to protect her baby which results with her collapse.

She’s only five months long pregnant and now they take her to the operation room urgently. There’s a chance she can loose her baby.

Poor Hadi is worried sick about his wife and their future, interrogated by mean officers who imply he might be one of the terrorists trained in ISIS camps close to Jordan. He pleads them he has papers, he’s Syrian refugee, he’s legal but harsh facts they throw at him startle Hadi like a sucker punch against his face: Pursuant of Executive Order 13769 his entry to the states is denied: he has two options; he can either leave the US voluntarily or he will be forcibly deported. If he goes voluntarily, the deportation officer will make the arrangements for his departure on the next scheduled flight: just liked that he’s forced to leave the country, finding himself at the plane directly flies to Amman.

Two things Sama and Hadi are truly afraid of: Sama didn’t want to raise a child alone and Hadi never wanted his child would be ashamed of him because of his refugee- foreigner status. But now what they are afraid of most eventually occurred.

Their son is in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) they transfer him to an incubator. He’s premature, fighting for his life as his father is deported from the states leaving his helpless, devastated mother alone.

How their story will conclude? Will they find a way to each other? Are their love strong enough to endure against borders, governments, regulations, countries? Is there a chance for them unite their family for a fresh start!

The girls at 17 Swann Street was heart wrenching , intense novel ! Sama and Hadi’s story was definitely different kind of ultra sensation , effective story which broke my heart. Yara Zgheib knows so well how to play with the strings of your emotional cords !

I think I will need at least one week to get rid of ultra emotional impact of the book.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.