In My Eyes I Carry Clouds
*Rights represented on behalf of Meridiaan Uitgevers in the Netherlands
Widá is a successful Afghan-Dutch psychiatrist who has spent most of her life suppressing her feelings, a skill she learned as a child during the war in Kabul, and perfected as a refugee rebuilding her life in the Netherlands. After fleeing Kabul at age 15, she learned Dutch with breathtaking speed, finished school, studied medicine, and became a psychiatrist and built a life grounded in reason, discipline, and emotional distance.
But in September 2023, everything cracks open. Widá receives news about Massomá, a girl who was like a sister to her in Kabul who has been murdered by the Taliban. A loose thread from the past - a story Widá had tried to leave unfinished – begins to pull at everything she has carefully constructed. Widá decides to travel by car from Amsterdam to Athens, officially to assist Margot, a Dutch journalist working on a report about Afghan refugees. But Widá has a second, secret reason for the journey: to fulfill an old promise and face the past she has tried so hard to forget. Her mother has since passed away, and she can no longer save Massomá but there is one person she may still be able to help: Massomá's mother, Begóm.
As the two women drive across Europe, images from the past rise slowly to the surface. Childhood memories of Kabul, where she grew up without a father, who was arrested by the authorities shortly after her birth. The long siege of the city in the 1990s, nights in basements, family members lost to bombs and militias. The long, terrifying escape from Afghanistan through Moscow, Ukraine, and Egypt to the Netherlands. The claustrophobic refugee shelters in the Netherlands., where she had only one escape route: to learn the language as quickly as possible so that she could study and go her own way. And finally, the memories of the people she was forced to leave behind. As they near Athens, she must ask herself: is it ever too late to heal what has been silenced? Will Widá succeed in giving Begóm a dignified ending and thus lay the past to rest for good?
Request more informationOriginal Language
DUTCH | Meridiaan Uitgevers
Translation Rights
KOREAN | Marco Polo Press
Reviews
“Anyone who calls refugees “fortune seekers” should read this novel.” Mezza Book Panel
“In this second novel, Karimi manages to touch you deeply with her striking portrayal of the experiences in the diaspora and the psychological effects of trauma. Her love for Afghanistan also comes through in her words.” Het Parool
“Love, and love alone, flows from every page of this book.” De Limburger
“Karimi is a masterful storyteller.” Margot Osse, Bookshop De Omslag
“Her previous book was beautiful, but this one... It leaves me speechless.” Caroline Sprengers, Bookshop Stevens