In 2010, Natasha, a lecturer at a university in Scotland, is shocked when her student Oz is arrested in her presence as a possible jihadist, especially as she has become close to him and his mother. In the 19th century, Imam Shamil, Natasha’s research subject and one of Oz’s ancestors, is the leader of the Caucasian resistance against Imperial Russia. In an effort to turn the tide and to get his son Jamaleldin back, who was kidnapped by Russian forces many years earlier and has become the tsar’s godson, he abducts the Georgian princess Anna.
The central questions of the book are ones of identity and belonging. Every character has either lost their home and is looking for one, or they are unsure of their identity and their allegiances. Anna, for instance, sees herself as a Georgian princess, and not a Russian, although Georgia has been annexed by Russia and has not been an independent country for some time. The Caucasians however see her as a Russian. Imam Shamil is desperately fighting for his home, but has already been chased out of his native Dagestan to Chechnya. After his surrender, he is forced out of the Caucasus entirely, never to return.
One of the two more interesting characters, however, is Natasha, who is half-Russian and half-Sudanese, but lives and teaches in Scotland. In a post-9/11 world, she uses her stepfather’s last name Wilson instead of her birth name Hussein, and thus covers up her being Muslim for fear of discrimination. She has also volunteered to obeserve her students for signs of radicalization and to write reports on those that she suspects. When she gets closer to Oz and his mother, she rediscovers some of her heritage, and when she learns that her father is terminally ill, she travels to Sudan to reconnect with her family and the people she grew up with. The other one is Jamaleldin, who lived in the mountains of the Caucasus until the age of 8, only to basically become Russian after his abduction. When he, now in his early 20s, learns that he is to return to the mountains he is ambivalent about it. On one hand, he misses his family, on the other hand, he has forgotten most of the language and the costums.
This is a very ambitious book, but sadly, it does not quite live up to its promise. The message is too blatantly shoved in the reader’s face, and although I greatly enjoyed learning about the Caucasian War, which I knew absolutely nothing about, I think that some sections of the historical story dragged, especially because the parts concerning Anna’s captivity should have been pared down. Also, although I found the character of Natasha very interesting, I think she got shortchanged by poor character development. She comes across as unlikeable because she is all too often only defined by her hang-ups, and she repeatedly treats people, especially her family, terribly due to her insecurities. Her story should have had more space to really flesh out the characters around her and to make Natasha herself more engaging. There also should have been more information on Oz because his story is virtually abandoned in the middle of the book. It’s still an engaging story, but a little uneven overall.
CBR13 Bingo: Pandemic