Set in war-torn Syria, the book is rich with Syrian culture, there are details throughout the story that can be incredibly, heartbreakingly eye-opening. If you can, I would absolutely do research into the names of places that get mentioned through out the book, just to understand the meaning behind what certain situations incur. It isn't necessary to do so, Zoulfa Katouh paints the devastation deeply, the horror that is happening on the page spills over every time into genuine feelings of loss. At least for me personally, I was on the verge of tears at several points.

At the core of the story however is the highlighting of the horrors of war and the horrific decisions refugees make when deciding to flee the country they were born in. It isn't a light reading, the topic is heavy but beautifully written. There's romance involved, which can sometimes feel a little hiit or mis to begin with, but I never felt like that (and one particular twist that occurs later into the book that I wished had been differently executed so I could feel it more deeply), they don't detract from the experience that comes with reading the story of Salama.