Publisher's Synopsis
An experimental work of historical fiction told in polyphonic monologues, Behind the Sun is set around 2010, with flashbacks to 1994, taking in the transition from an Imam-led government to socialism prevailing in the south, and then the civil war, with a particular focus on unexplained disappearances of those who opposed the majoritarian political power. Told from the perspectives of three characters: Yousef, a political prisoner whose present-day mental instability is the result of torture; Yahya, an army officer who guards Yousef in prison; and Yahya's unnamed wife, a teacher who originally inducted Yousef into the socialist party, and who was forced to marry Yahya after her father went MIA. Her attempts to escape her lonely situation by having a child is thwarted by ovarian cancer, and she finally decides to seek refuge in the US. Through flashbacks and present-day monologues of each character, the tumultuous history of Yemen is pieced together, almost reflecting the attempted piecing together of each character's broken self.
