Sinan Antoon

"In this achingly beautiful novel of trauma, memory, and identity, two Iraqi men struggle to start a new life in the US after the Gulf War. Sami, a retired doctor, lives with his son and grandchildren in Brooklyn. As he tries to navigate this new city, it becomes increasingly clear he is losing his memory due to dementia. Every day he sinks deeper into old memories of a life in Iraq before the war. Omar arrived in the US with no family. He has run away from Baghdad with a fake identity. As a deserter, he was punished by having an ear cut off, an unmissable mark of shame. Omar works menial jobs, creates a new identity— passing as Puerto Rican—and dreams of reconstructive surgery to get his ear, and his dignity, back. Their stories converge powerfully when it becomes clear they were connected in Iraq at a moment that was pivotal for them both. Deftly exploring the aftermath of war and relocation, Of Loss and Lavender creates a moving portrait of life in exile.”

“Ravishing, heartbreaking, and often absurd, Of Loss and Lavender is a novel on exile in all its meanings, panoramic in implications but distilled down like a fine elixir. I adored it.” —Molly Crabapple, author of Here Where We Live Is Our Country

“Of Loss and Lavender is a haunting story of two men—one desperate to remember, the other to forget. In exploring the cost of erasing one’s past, Antoon reveals the deep fractures of exile and identity. Moving between Iraq and the United States—two worlds bound by history since 2003—this novel marks a bold new chapter in Antoon’s work. With his gift for creating unforgettable, layered characters, Antoon leaves readers with echoes that linger long after the final page.” —Hassan Abdulrazzak, British-Iraqi playwright and fellow of the Royal Society of Literature