Six strangers adrift in Europe, each carrying a wound that won't stay packed.
Who drives the story
A Nigerian writer on a fellowship in Berlin, drifting until a stranger's tears give him a purpose. His search for a missing woman becomes his real education in Europe.
A woman who fled her diplomat husband, trading privilege for precarity. Her missing friend Kat gives the novel its engine and her guilt its shape.
The absent center: an African woman in Berlin whose disappearance draws the other characters together. The closer they get to her, the more she stands for everyone the city loses.
Men caught in asylum limbo in Berlin, waiting years for decisions that may destroy them. Their testimony turns one death into an indictment.
Also in the story
A trained artist who discovers that in Europe his music is heard but he is not. His chapter shows talent stripped of status.
A writer in America whose visa collapses, taking his stability with it. His drift through detention shows how quickly a life can be administrated away.
How they are connected
Go deeper
Invisibility · The paperwork of despair · Stories as survival · Freedom's fine print
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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