Alligator and Other Stories

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Shortlisted for the 2021 Swansea University Dylan Thomas PrizeShortlisted for a 2021 James Tait Black AwardShortlisted for the PEN/Robert W Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection 2021’Sardonic, monstrous, tender’ Sunday Times’Startling . . . profound’ Daily MailIn Alligator and Other Stories, Dima Alzayat captures luminously how it feels to be ‘other’: as a Syrian, as an Arab, as an immigrant, as a woman. Each one of the nine stories collected here is a snapshot of those moments when unusual circumstances suddenly distinguish us from our neighbours, when our difference is thrown into relief.Here are ‘dangerous’ women transgressing, missing children in 1970s New York, a family who were once Syrian but have now lost their name, and a young woman about to discover the hollowness of the American dream. At its centre lies ‘Alligator’: a remarkable compilation of real and invented sources, which rescues from history the story of a Syrian American couple who were murdered at the hands of the state.Alzayat explores experiences that are startling and real, delivering an emotional punch that lingers long after reading.

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