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It is not difficult to understand why Samar Yazbek angers the regime in Syria. A dark streak of light is certainly not the reason she fled their home country, nevertheless, this fictional narrative is a biting criticism of Syrian society.

Cinnamon, the novel by Syrian author Samar Yazbek just came out in Sweden (Ordfront) and Norway (Cappelen Damm).

The blazing sun gave the impression that the crowd fleeing death to Turkey was at the gates of hell: Children faces burned, human beings who lacked an arm or leg. And everywhere, the smell of rotting, festering wounds, poorly treated by lack of medicine.

We got in the camp after many difficulties. In the harsh light, children seemed to be crumbling clay statues. Tents were lined up, and all around, the foul water flowed in the gutters. The atmosphere was stifling. Almost all the refugees had looked absent, they all seemed to wait for something.

“Syria has no choice but hope.”

The novelist regrets that the opposition movement has evolved from its peaceful origin. She refuses to condone, let alone applaud, armed uprisings. “Isn’t political opposition the better alternative?” she meekly suggests.

The other woman laughs in her face and rejects her logic. “What are you waiting for, you futile scribbler, when more than 100,000 people lie dead and thousands are imprisoned or missing?”