“Nadra hadn’t wanted to be married. She did not want to live in the same dingy apartment she inhabited as a teenager.”

Nadra comes to America in 1922 when she is a young girl with her younger sister and parents, leaving two older sisters behind in Syria. Her father starts a new life for the family with a store that has an apartment above it where they live. Customs of the old world follow them to the new world, but Nadra wants to live fully as an American. Her struggle to escape the old world is thwarted by a marriage to another Syrian immigrant.

I was asked to review Sister of Saidnaya by the author through my blog. I was offered a free copy in exchange for a fair review. The story sounded interesting and the author lives in Ohio, too. I even saw that she was doing a book signing at a bookstore I was at in Columbus.

Nadra and her husband take over the family store and their own family starts living in the apartment she wanted to escape from as a child. Unfortunately, she never was able to go to school as she was needed to help run the family store. Without an education, she cannot escape and get out on her own, even though independence is her dream. The book takes the reader through her life and how she finally makes her own way to peace.

Sister of Saidnaya reads like a memoir even though it’s a fiction story. I found Nadra’s story interesting, but there were no huge plot twists or climaxes in the story. It was an interesting view of a possible immigrant’s life trying to find a balance between old and new.  I would recommend it to people who enjoy memoirs, but it is for adult readers.

Do you enjoy memoirs? Share your favorite on the blog!

Buy the book here (affiliate link).