Hollow Fires

by Samira Ahmed

[Rach Wood]

This heartfelt and thought-provoking story broke me. Beautifully written and unceasingly compelling, Hollow Fires is already one of my favourite books of all time. A tear-jerker, part murder mystery, part ghost story, part coming-of-age, part social commentary. It addresses so many important and horrific topics (such as racism, classicism, Islamophobia and alt-right propaganda) that it could have gone so wrong so fast. But it didn’t. With an ingenious format and lyrical prose, Samira Ahmed not only shines a light on the evil that exists among us and the silent complicity of the privileged; but she also inspires us to be the change we want to see in the world.

The 17-year-old Desi Muslim Safiya Mirza is an aspiring journalist and the editor of her school’s newspaper. Son of Iraqi immigrants, Jawad Ali was a 14-year-old Muslim boy who went missing after being racially profiled as a terrorist by his English teacher. When Safiya starts hearing unsettling whispers, she listens and starts her own investigation. With Jawad’s haunting voice guiding her, Safiya seeks to tell the whole truth about his disappearance, and it’s exciting to bear witness to her will and perseverance. And of course, when real-world events become the backbone of speculative storytelling, it’s impossible to read it and come out unscarred.

From blog posts to text messages to journal entries to interview transcripts, it’s impressive how Ahmed masterfully weaves it all together to tell us such a poignant story. The last few chapters toss me into a rollercoaster of emotions and frantic weeping. And even though I suspected the eventual murderer when there was still no reason to, I remember all along wishing I was wrong. I cried so much for Jawad, Safiya, and all the historically marginalized groups of people who are constantly trampled on by authority, bigot assholes and especially wolfs in sheep’s clothing. I will never forget Hollow Fires and will always do my best to help those in need.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Little, Brown and Samira Ahmed. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.