Sublime

That was the thing with Hassan. He was so goddamn pure, you always felt like a phony around him.

was this close to catching the stupid woman when I found a mysterious letter on my doorsill.

You have an extraordinary mother, Father often said, as though she was better than all the others. A mother is not a friend, Anouk liked to say, proud of this distinction. What happened to daughters like us? Would we flee our families, wanting to be far away, wishing to carve out a life that was ours alone, far removed from where we came from? Or w

« Parce que je n’ai pas eu droit à la jeunesse dont je rêvais, m’avait‑elle avoué, je veux finir les jours qui me restent à vivre comme je l’entends. Avant, je n’étais qu’une femme. Désormais, je suis moi, Lalla Halima. Plus aucune autorité ne se substituera à la mienne. »

the system as a whole remains ill-equipped to deal with chronic illness. It’s technologically proficient but emotionally deficient, much better at treating acute problems than chronic ones: for every instance of expert treatment, skilled surgery, or innovative problem-solving, there are countless cases of substandard care, overlooked diagnoses, bur

gnawed