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Where Are You Now?
This is not the Garden of Eden, but it is my patch of heaven. Steal my apples. Come and get them. When an asylum seeker is discovered sleeping rough at an allotment site, the plot-holders are alarmed and hostile. However, in secret, Walter begins to leave out food for Osama. Thus, a friendship begins on a garden bench, between a grieving widower and an asylum seeker on the run from the authorities. Walter is rooted in his home city; Osama belongs nowhere. Walter has a safe and routine life; Osama’s life is uncertain, risky and vulnerable. Walter feels powerless to help him, while at the same time he struggles to understand his own daughters and their lives. Then, one day, Walter discovers Osama is not who he says he is…
206 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 24, 2023
3 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Connell
3 books13 followersAn allotment. A bench. A grieving man. An asylum seeker on the run. An intimate, sharply relevant story that unfolds in the stillness between two people who should never have met, and yet desperately need each other.
Walter and Osama aren’t just characters, they’re reflections of two worlds colliding in quiet resistance. There’s heartbreak here, but also defiant kindness. The emotional stillness, the subtle tensions, the questions of belonging, grief, and trust, readers say this is the kind of novel that lingers in the soul long after the final page.
My first novel 'Whenever' was published in 2017 on my 70th birthday when I won the Novel Prize with Cinnamon Press. My second 'Random Three' came out with the Book Guild in summer 2020. 'Where Are You Now?' is my third and is the story of an unlikely friendship between an old man and an asylum seeker.
My work is social fiction, about our contemporary lives, with a focus on characters and I write mostly but not only about the northern city where I live.
The next one is set in Ghana.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 13, 2023
Where Are You Now? (Spoiler-Free Review)
Walter feels out of touch with the women in his life: His daughter, Celia, his step-daughter, Gabby, his ex-wife, Marie, and, it seems, any woman he has a level of affection for.
Walter is, in his own mind, and he thinks in the eyes of others, old. His beloved wife, Linda, died young and he still longs to be with her, which means he struggles to find emotional openness to the women mentioned above.
It is much easier for Walter to connect with Osama, who he finds making refuge on an allotment he shares with friends and acquaintances.
I found this connection to be more about Walter’s disconnection from his own family. His willingness to act as a father figure towards a stranger shows it can be much easier to be emotionally available to someone that knows nothing about your own life.
The prose in the book allows the reader to read at the pace of Walter’s worry, which makes the story incredibly absorbing. The political backdrop of both attitudes to British border control and the many complicated struggles of the people of Gaza and places rebelling against despotic rule is dealt with sensitively but at the same time unapologetically biased.
Walter’s blind spots in his family life are ironically inflamed by his relationship with a male stranger which poetically illustrates the flawed masculine approach to trauma, guilt, and emotional maturity.
The book is at once both a comment on colonial complacency and generational ignorance.
Walter feels out of touch with the women in his life: His daughter, Celia, his step-daughter, Gabby, his ex-wife, Marie, and, it seems, any woman he has a level of affection for.
Walter is, in his own mind, and he thinks in the eyes of others, old. His beloved wife, Linda, died young and he still longs to be with her, which means he struggles to find emotional openness to the women mentioned above.
It is much easier for Walter to connect with Osama, who he finds making refuge on an allotment he shares with friends and acquaintances.
I found this connection to be more about Walter’s disconnection from his own family. His willingness to act as a father figure towards a stranger shows it can be much easier to be emotionally available to someone that knows nothing about your own life.
The prose in the book allows the reader to read at the pace of Walter’s worry, which makes the story incredibly absorbing. The political backdrop of both attitudes to British border control and the many complicated struggles of the people of Gaza and places rebelling against despotic rule is dealt with sensitively but at the same time unapologetically biased.
Walter’s blind spots in his family life are ironically inflamed by his relationship with a male stranger which poetically illustrates the flawed masculine approach to trauma, guilt, and emotional maturity.
The book is at once both a comment on colonial complacency and generational ignorance.
May 23, 2023
I loved this gentle but very powerful book.
The character of Walter is well developed. His relationship with his friends, adult children, late and ex wives are very relatable to and his interest in food and flavours surprising for an older man giving him a slightly different dimension and interest
However it’s his relationship with Amir that is the centre of the book and the contrast between the 2 men is portrayed very sympathetically. Whereas Walter is easy to relate to, I really felt I knew him, Osama/Amro remains a mystery. As a member of a society which has never had to flee from oppression and danger it is more difficult to empathise with this character and I didn’t really feel I knew him that well although that could very well be intended. However I certain know a lot more about the difficulties, differences, feelings and hurdles of asylum seekers and how they can be judged
As well as the character developments there are also delightful descriptions of nature, season changes and plant growing especially for the table
Sarah Connell is definitely one to follow
The character of Walter is well developed. His relationship with his friends, adult children, late and ex wives are very relatable to and his interest in food and flavours surprising for an older man giving him a slightly different dimension and interest
However it’s his relationship with Amir that is the centre of the book and the contrast between the 2 men is portrayed very sympathetically. Whereas Walter is easy to relate to, I really felt I knew him, Osama/Amro remains a mystery. As a member of a society which has never had to flee from oppression and danger it is more difficult to empathise with this character and I didn’t really feel I knew him that well although that could very well be intended. However I certain know a lot more about the difficulties, differences, feelings and hurdles of asylum seekers and how they can be judged
As well as the character developments there are also delightful descriptions of nature, season changes and plant growing especially for the table
Sarah Connell is definitely one to follow
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July 25, 2025Dear Readers
Here is a review I received directly from a new reader last week, let's call him MR. It is so good to read that someone had understood and enjoyed my story.
“Where Are You Now?” is a quietly powerful novel about absence, resilience, and the fragile threads that hold us to one another. Set against the backdrop of a Northern UK town, it explores the emotional terrain of grief, migration, and the search for belonging. Through its introspective voice and grounded realism, the story speaks to readers who crave emotional depth, social relevance, and the quiet intimacy of lives often overlooked. It’s a book for those who understand that healing is rarely linear, and that sometimes, the most profound journeys happen in silence.”
Here is a review I received directly from a new reader last week, let's call him MR. It is so good to read that someone had understood and enjoyed my story.
“Where Are You Now?” is a quietly powerful novel about absence, resilience, and the fragile threads that hold us to one another. Set against the backdrop of a Northern UK town, it explores the emotional terrain of grief, migration, and the search for belonging. Through its introspective voice and grounded realism, the story speaks to readers who crave emotional depth, social relevance, and the quiet intimacy of lives often overlooked. It’s a book for those who understand that healing is rarely linear, and that sometimes, the most profound journeys happen in silence.”
July 10, 2025
The book doesn't shout it whispers. In the silence between Walter and Osama, I found something rare: a novel that trusts its reader to feel deeply without being told to. One of the most emotionally intelligent books I’ve read this year.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews