God 99

Hassan Owl is an Iraqi refugee struggling to establish himself as a writer, both in his newly adopted Finland and back home. On receiving a grant to develop a website for his otherwise unpublished work, he instead decides to embark on a series of interviews that will capture the real stories behind Europe's so called 'refugee crisis'. Over the next few years, Owl travels across the continent interviewing 99 individuals whose lives have been 'disrupted'; by war, persecution and poverty: from the doctor who abandons her post in a besieged Syrian hospital to become a DJ in Berlin, to the Afghan teenager, who forgets his family waiting desperately for his financial support back home, and falls prey to the poison of radicalisation. In between these stories, Owl's own story emerges, a through-line of intrigue and influence, driven by his relationship with a mysterious translator he has never met. God 99 is the highly anticipated debut novel by acclaimed Iraqi writer, poet and filmmaker Hassan Blasim, blending the fantastic with the everyday to explore themes of exile, humanity, art and philosophy.