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    The Fire in His Wake
    The Fire in His Wake
    The Fire in His Wake
    Audiobook18 hours

    The Fire in His Wake

    Written by Spencer Wolff

    Narrated by Elias Khalil

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    The Fire in His Wake, Spencer Wolff’s exuberant debut novel, tells the story of two men swept up in refugee crises of the twenty-first century: Simon, a young employee at the UNHCR in Morocco, and Arès, a Congolese locksmith left for dead in the wake of ethnic violence.

    In search of a better future, Arès embarks on an epic journey across northern Africa with Europe as his goal. He reaches Rabat, Morocco, where he joins a desperate community of exiles fighting for survival in a hostile land. While Arès risks everything to make it to Spain, Simon gradually awakens to a subterranean world of violence that threatens his comfortable expat life and fledgling romance with a Moroccan singer. Part colorful portrait of life in the Maghreb, part astonishing tale of hope and perseverance, The Fire in his Wake carries the reader from the inner sanctums of the UN to the hazardous realities faced by the refugees in the streets and on their risky crossings to Europe.

    When a storm gathers at the UNHCR, and the ghosts of the Congo’s violence surface in Rabat, the two men find themselves on a collision course, setting the stage for the novel’s unforgettable and genre-busting ending. Eye-opening, suspenseful, and full of unexpected humor, Wolff brings his personal experiences as an aid worker to this unforgettable story of two remarkable individuals.

    Editor's Note

    Collision course…

    Spencer Wolff brings his experience as an aid worker to his debut novel: a harrowing tale of two men swept up in the current global refugee crisis. The men’s lives are set to collide when Arès flees his native Congo on a risky journey out of Africa to Spain and young UN worker Simon finds himself enveloped in violence in Morocco. A timely tale of migration, borders, and human rights.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScribd Audio
    Release dateJul 9, 2020
    ISBN9781094410692
    Author

    Spencer Wolff

    Spencer Wolff is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist based in Paris, France. An adjunct faculty member of the École normale supérieure (Paris), he teaches a Master’s course focused on the history of diaspora and migration. A graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School, he worked at the UN Refugee Bureau (UNHCR) in Rabat, Morocco in 2009. The Fire in his Wake is his first novel.

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    Reviews for The Fire in His Wake

    4.5/5

    65 ratings17 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Revealing ... this book humbled me. Everyone who is involved with refugees and immigration should consider this book mandatory.
    • 5/5
      A beautifully written tale that will remain in your heart forever.
    • 5/5
      Propels you directly into the interwoven lives of refugees seeking new lives and the UN staff caught as gatekeepers to those new lives. Captures this agonizing « borderland » brilliantly.
    • 5/5
      A mighty story. So heart tugging and challenging. Changed my understanding of the privilege of my life and how it keeps others in disadvantage
    • 3/5
      When a book is translated into English, the quotes should be translated too. The French quotes may add atmosphere to the book, but the English translation should be in parentheses, and read if it’s audio. Not being able to understand asides between characters is frustrating to understanding their relationships.

      The story is tragically compelling & for all I know , it may be accurate, it seems true to most bureaucratic systems. Top heavy and inefficient.
      I really was turned off by the endless untranslated French.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful eye opening story. Well written and the audiobook is well told.
    • 5/5
      good book, I would listen it again . . .
    • 5/5
      Wolff's writing is vivid, painterly, conjures memories of travel in distant lands. His descriptions of place call to mind Orhan Pamuk's writing, he has a gift for speaking to the mind's eye of the reader to convey the landscape and personality of a city, and his feel for his characters is deeply intimate.
    • 4/5
      My dad enjoyed this book , so would definitely recommend it.
    • 4/5
      I’m at a loss for words to convey how much I loved this book. If you have some great stories like this one, you can publish it on Novel Star, just submit your story to hardy@novelstar.top or joye@novelstar.top
    • 2/5
      You need to speak French to understand much of this book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Compelling characters in a fascinating setting. The author seems to have drawn on deep experiences and created a fully realized world. I don’t want to give anything away by summarizing the plot - I would just say give it a try.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Gripping story. The first page draws you in and from there on the tale of how two characters from very different worlds intersect and how each grows in knowledge and worldliness is spot on in this time of turbulence. The themes are both universal and pertinent to today’s news. Highly recommended.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Love audiobooks and can’t wait to dive into the story ✨

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      An intimate window in the brutal realities faced by so many. Well written and well told!

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      One of the best books I have read this year. So well written!

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I have been a devout reader of historical fiction for the last 20 years (Dorothy Dunnett hung the moon) to provide some relativity to this review. Through the folds of the internet, pounding the ether for some new brain-food, I found this audio book. I am far too busy to log any real time on my arse indulging in the odor of books so, audio books fill a niche my lifestyle allows. Thats fine.

      I've spent a little time in Morocco, traveling between Casablanca, Asilah, Tangier and Marrakech. If you have not spent time there, it is a timeless place; the late day sun is red-hot orange and bigger than you've ever seen it, waves of heated air modulating its edges as it melts into the ocean. Losing yourself in market stalls, absent the same cares you landed with, there is no room for ego or to be the same person you may be elsewhere, and you can dream. I've been ready for a new book for a while, this came along at the perfect time.

      Check it out. Great job Mr. Wolff. Thanks for the superb book.

      1 person found this helpful