Quote by Hisham Matar: “Grief makes us citizens of a country we never wished to visit.”

This powerful metaphor explains that experiencing deep grief transports us into an unfamiliar and often isolating emotional state. It suggests that loss forces us into a new, unwelcome existence, where the world feels different and our old life seems distant, making us strangers even to ourselves.

From 'The Return,' this profound statement conveys the dislocating nature of immense loss, particularly his father's disappearance in Libya. It speaks to the universal experience of grief as a transformative, isolating journey, resonating with anyone who has endured deep personal tragedy.

Libyan-British novelist who won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 2017 for The Return, a memoir about searching for his father who disappeared into Gaddafi's prisons. His novel In the Country of Men was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2006.