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The Hair of The Pigeon
320 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 29, 2026
Thank you NetGalley and Godine for this ARC!! All opinions are my own.
Wow. This was tough to get through, but for good reason. It was not an easy read, but I’m glad I read it.
The Hair of the Pigeon is a story of friendship, love and coming of age. At the same time, it is a story of survival, sacrifice and hope. 17-year-old Ghassan lives in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, with his best friend Badawi and the girl he loves, Sama. They make the most out of their situation, until Sama disappears and Ghassan is thrown in prison where he is brutally tortured.
By the end of this story, no one is the same. There is no one left unscathed in times of war, but Ghassan’s tale reminds us that we can endure even the worst of times.
I loved the poetic prose of this novel. Morsi uses such powerful imagery and the way he writes completely gripped me. It took me awhile to finish this, only because of the truth behind the story. War is unforgiving and cruel, and it is difficult to bear witness. However, we must.
Wow. This was tough to get through, but for good reason. It was not an easy read, but I’m glad I read it.
The Hair of the Pigeon is a story of friendship, love and coming of age. At the same time, it is a story of survival, sacrifice and hope. 17-year-old Ghassan lives in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, with his best friend Badawi and the girl he loves, Sama. They make the most out of their situation, until Sama disappears and Ghassan is thrown in prison where he is brutally tortured.
By the end of this story, no one is the same. There is no one left unscathed in times of war, but Ghassan’s tale reminds us that we can endure even the worst of times.
I loved the poetic prose of this novel. Morsi uses such powerful imagery and the way he writes completely gripped me. It took me awhile to finish this, only because of the truth behind the story. War is unforgiving and cruel, and it is difficult to bear witness. However, we must.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
M.M. Morsi’s work is always exciting, richly layered and authentic, his palette mixing our species’ brutal worst with our compassionate best.
In The Hair of the Pigeon, Morsi rises to new heights with a coming-of-age story initially set in the Palestinian refugee camp-turned township in Syria – Yarmouk.
Gassan is seventeen, in a Yarmouk high school, in the throes of first love, and beginning to realise how complex other people are.
Teenagers are often self-focused as they try to navigate the world independently, but Gassan’s issues are bigger and more existential than most, as he survives within the complex, cloistered world of alleys, tiny shops and leaning buildings of cheap, crumbling concrete amid the smell of burning rubbish and diesel.
Morsi paints the world Gassan inhabits with empathy and understanding. Everyone in Gassan’s life has secrets and, without detailing the deep currents of factionalism and geopolitics seething around Gassan, Morsi is our guide to a world we realise is lethal and growing more so by the minute. Should Gassan escape? Can he? Where could he go and how could he leave those he still cares for?
The narrative takes us into places most of us have never been, and eventually Gassan is smuggled across dangerous lands and drowning seas to refugee status in another continent.
But even the darkest moments are given the light of compassion. The worst of humanity is presented, as is the best, as plain, unvarnished reality. Human cruelty is mirrored by humane kindness. The shock is less in the story as in the realisation that our worst is the other side of a single coin to our best.
And here is Morsi’s special gift, not only as a storyteller – and he is phenomenally good - but as someone who writes with a pen dipped in love. Despite the tension, grit, and searing drama, the story is filled with love; the love for friends and family, of small moments of understanding and caring for others, or for our one true love. This is a narrative filled with emotional connections, highs and lows, and all from a perspective of one whom has not given up on our species, and still loves, deeply.
Good storytelling teaches us who we are, who we risk becoming, who we might dare aspire to be. It teaches us what is truly important. We care about Gassan because he cares about others – he loves, and that’s what matters.
Congratulations to the author and the publisher on a story that will capture minds and hearts; an adventure written with immediacy, wisdom and finesse.
In The Hair of the Pigeon, Morsi rises to new heights with a coming-of-age story initially set in the Palestinian refugee camp-turned township in Syria – Yarmouk.
Gassan is seventeen, in a Yarmouk high school, in the throes of first love, and beginning to realise how complex other people are.
Teenagers are often self-focused as they try to navigate the world independently, but Gassan’s issues are bigger and more existential than most, as he survives within the complex, cloistered world of alleys, tiny shops and leaning buildings of cheap, crumbling concrete amid the smell of burning rubbish and diesel.
Morsi paints the world Gassan inhabits with empathy and understanding. Everyone in Gassan’s life has secrets and, without detailing the deep currents of factionalism and geopolitics seething around Gassan, Morsi is our guide to a world we realise is lethal and growing more so by the minute. Should Gassan escape? Can he? Where could he go and how could he leave those he still cares for?
The narrative takes us into places most of us have never been, and eventually Gassan is smuggled across dangerous lands and drowning seas to refugee status in another continent.
But even the darkest moments are given the light of compassion. The worst of humanity is presented, as is the best, as plain, unvarnished reality. Human cruelty is mirrored by humane kindness. The shock is less in the story as in the realisation that our worst is the other side of a single coin to our best.
And here is Morsi’s special gift, not only as a storyteller – and he is phenomenally good - but as someone who writes with a pen dipped in love. Despite the tension, grit, and searing drama, the story is filled with love; the love for friends and family, of small moments of understanding and caring for others, or for our one true love. This is a narrative filled with emotional connections, highs and lows, and all from a perspective of one whom has not given up on our species, and still loves, deeply.
Good storytelling teaches us who we are, who we risk becoming, who we might dare aspire to be. It teaches us what is truly important. We care about Gassan because he cares about others – he loves, and that’s what matters.
Congratulations to the author and the publisher on a story that will capture minds and hearts; an adventure written with immediacy, wisdom and finesse.
April 9, 2026
OMG- THIS NOVEL!
I haven't been on here much since I moved on to another platform - but this work definitely deserves to have my words on here. So with no further ado:
It’s March 2011 in Syria, and revolution the Arab spring has arrived.
Ghassan, stopping to watch a crowd of protesters, is grabbed, bound and forced into Syria’s most notorious prison – Sednaya, otherwise known as the 'Slaughterhouse'.
It's an epic and raw store, following a young Ghassan's journey across Europe after he is torn from his home and forced into exile. The novel opens in Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. Ghassan is seven years old and lives in the camp with his emotionally detached mother, Salsabeel, and his gentle father, Shokri.
Children play football in Syria’s summer wind and beautifully drawn characters populate the alleyways. There is his best friend's single mother Mariam, who is the camp's most prominent prostitute. Badawi is her son, Ghassan’s best friend but there are also lots of other characters such as Ahmed the doctor from Gaza who clearly isn't practicing medicine, and then there is Ismaeil, the only black man in the camp and of course Ghassan’s beloved friend Sama whose hair is magical and who trains homing pigeons.
It's a very different novel than Morsi's first, The Palace of Angels. This one has an almost spiritual undertone to it. Dreams are like prophecies and on the verge of magical realism. Morsi writes with precision and just as I thought he'd lost a point, he comes back to it later in the novel.
It's a novel but it's also factual. I looked up many of the facts he lists about the events in the camp and they happened indeed. It's actually got a tonne of journalistic credit to it this novel.
The reading experience is at times eerie, almost claustrophobic, as one senses cycles of history repeating.
It's not an easy novel to review as it's at heart a love story but also a story about redemption. The story is from Ghassan's point of view but is really about Sama and Badawi and all the things that are and aren't right between the heavens and the earth.
Seriously. This is a masterpiece of a novel - and the shop I got it from only had 1 copy! WTF!?
I was left walking a tight rope between brutality and love, while being pummeled with the trauma and taboos of war. But I was also left with a sense that he believes the good in our humanity will prevail, because the bad is made by broken hearts.
A definite 5 stars!
I haven't been on here much since I moved on to another platform - but this work definitely deserves to have my words on here. So with no further ado:
It’s March 2011 in Syria, and revolution the Arab spring has arrived.
Ghassan, stopping to watch a crowd of protesters, is grabbed, bound and forced into Syria’s most notorious prison – Sednaya, otherwise known as the 'Slaughterhouse'.
It's an epic and raw store, following a young Ghassan's journey across Europe after he is torn from his home and forced into exile. The novel opens in Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. Ghassan is seven years old and lives in the camp with his emotionally detached mother, Salsabeel, and his gentle father, Shokri.
Children play football in Syria’s summer wind and beautifully drawn characters populate the alleyways. There is his best friend's single mother Mariam, who is the camp's most prominent prostitute. Badawi is her son, Ghassan’s best friend but there are also lots of other characters such as Ahmed the doctor from Gaza who clearly isn't practicing medicine, and then there is Ismaeil, the only black man in the camp and of course Ghassan’s beloved friend Sama whose hair is magical and who trains homing pigeons.
It's a very different novel than Morsi's first, The Palace of Angels. This one has an almost spiritual undertone to it. Dreams are like prophecies and on the verge of magical realism. Morsi writes with precision and just as I thought he'd lost a point, he comes back to it later in the novel.
It's a novel but it's also factual. I looked up many of the facts he lists about the events in the camp and they happened indeed. It's actually got a tonne of journalistic credit to it this novel.
The reading experience is at times eerie, almost claustrophobic, as one senses cycles of history repeating.
It's not an easy novel to review as it's at heart a love story but also a story about redemption. The story is from Ghassan's point of view but is really about Sama and Badawi and all the things that are and aren't right between the heavens and the earth.
Seriously. This is a masterpiece of a novel - and the shop I got it from only had 1 copy! WTF!?
I was left walking a tight rope between brutality and love, while being pummeled with the trauma and taboos of war. But I was also left with a sense that he believes the good in our humanity will prevail, because the bad is made by broken hearts.
A definite 5 stars!
May 12, 2026
We rarely have a chance to read about Palestinian refugee camps in Syria. This book is a fascinating look at these stateless people without passports, many of whom have lived in Syria “temporarily,” for generations, since the Naqba.
But the book is about a lot more. Torture in Assad’s prisons. Refugees fleeing to Greece, then Denmark, and trying to start a new life. And as an overlay against this backdrop, the stresses of family dynamics, friendships and betrayals, and a young man trying to find his identity in a maelstrom of change. Oh — and tormented by an unrequited love.
I struggled with the parts of the book that were long dream scenes, not sure how to integrate them into the actual story. That’s why I’d take off half a star and give it 4.5.
However, I loved learning what life is like for refugees in Denmark. Many descriptions were wonderfully lyrical. Here are a few examples:
“War is love in disguise, the wolf that lives inside of us, hungry to be untamed and free.”
(Talking about Palestinian refugee kids in Syria playing soccer) “On the pitch, and off the pitch, we had all been seeking a home — and home was maybe somewhere we were all going but had never been before.”
“I felt as if I was standing in a. Field of flowers where every stalk had been cut, where spring itself had drawn back into the cavern of winter.”
“There are no accidents. We are all drifting towards death on a night-hooded sea, begging the heavens and the earth for something more — a heading, a meaning — and never receiving an answer.”
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance review copy.
But the book is about a lot more. Torture in Assad’s prisons. Refugees fleeing to Greece, then Denmark, and trying to start a new life. And as an overlay against this backdrop, the stresses of family dynamics, friendships and betrayals, and a young man trying to find his identity in a maelstrom of change. Oh — and tormented by an unrequited love.
I struggled with the parts of the book that were long dream scenes, not sure how to integrate them into the actual story. That’s why I’d take off half a star and give it 4.5.
However, I loved learning what life is like for refugees in Denmark. Many descriptions were wonderfully lyrical. Here are a few examples:
“War is love in disguise, the wolf that lives inside of us, hungry to be untamed and free.”
(Talking about Palestinian refugee kids in Syria playing soccer) “On the pitch, and off the pitch, we had all been seeking a home — and home was maybe somewhere we were all going but had never been before.”
“I felt as if I was standing in a. Field of flowers where every stalk had been cut, where spring itself had drawn back into the cavern of winter.”
“There are no accidents. We are all drifting towards death on a night-hooded sea, begging the heavens and the earth for something more — a heading, a meaning — and never receiving an answer.”
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance review copy.
April 24, 2026
Some books entertain. Some books educate. And some books quietly sit you down and say, “you’re going to pay attention to this”. The Hair of the Pigeon by Mohammed Massoud Morsi is that kind of book.
We follow Ghassan, a Palestinian teenager growing up in Yarmouk Camp in Syria, whose coming of age is hijacked by the Arab Spring.
This is not a tidy story. The structure is jagged, looping and occasionally disorienting, but it feels intentional, like the only honest way to tell a story shaped by trauma. You’re not guided gently from A to B. You’re dropped into the middle of it and expected to keep up.
If I’m being picky, and I am always, there were moments where I wanted just a little more grounding, something to hold onto as a reader. But again, that sense of instability is kind of the point.
It’s confronting and immersive. Read this if you’re in the mood for something that will stay with you and you feel you are ready for the full frontal assault on your sensibilities that this novel is.
Kindly gifted by UWA Publishing, but all thoughts are mine and mine alone.
We follow Ghassan, a Palestinian teenager growing up in Yarmouk Camp in Syria, whose coming of age is hijacked by the Arab Spring.
This is not a tidy story. The structure is jagged, looping and occasionally disorienting, but it feels intentional, like the only honest way to tell a story shaped by trauma. You’re not guided gently from A to B. You’re dropped into the middle of it and expected to keep up.
If I’m being picky, and I am always, there were moments where I wanted just a little more grounding, something to hold onto as a reader. But again, that sense of instability is kind of the point.
It’s confronting and immersive. Read this if you’re in the mood for something that will stay with you and you feel you are ready for the full frontal assault on your sensibilities that this novel is.
Kindly gifted by UWA Publishing, but all thoughts are mine and mine alone.
March 26, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Godine for providing me with an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
There is no beauty to be found here. “The Hair of the Pigeon” documents the turbulent life of Ghassan, following his life in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, to Assad’s torture prisons, through a harrowing trip across the Mediterranean, to life as a refugee in Europe. The prose is as unyielding as the life Ghassan ekes out, sparse and brutal, as misery and death bleed through, unrelenting in every page. This was not an easy read, but a haunting one. At times, it was difficult to follow the narrative, and the various dream sequences were a bit tedious. For readers of Susan Abulhawa, Khalid Hosseini, and Zoulfa Katouh.
There is no beauty to be found here. “The Hair of the Pigeon” documents the turbulent life of Ghassan, following his life in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, to Assad’s torture prisons, through a harrowing trip across the Mediterranean, to life as a refugee in Europe. The prose is as unyielding as the life Ghassan ekes out, sparse and brutal, as misery and death bleed through, unrelenting in every page. This was not an easy read, but a haunting one. At times, it was difficult to follow the narrative, and the various dream sequences were a bit tedious. For readers of Susan Abulhawa, Khalid Hosseini, and Zoulfa Katouh.
June 5, 2026
The Hair of the Pigeon is a beautifully written and emotionally powerful novel that explores love, loss, and the enduring hope that survives even in the face of war and displacement. Following Ghassan's journey from the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk through the chaos of the Syrian civil war and ultimately into exile, the story offers a deeply human perspective of the refugee experience.
The only reason I wouldn't give it a full five stars is that the pacing occasionally slows, particularly during some of the more reflective passages. While these moments add depth, they can make the middle sections feel slightly drawn out.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC.
The only reason I wouldn't give it a full five stars is that the pacing occasionally slows, particularly during some of the more reflective passages. While these moments add depth, they can make the middle sections feel slightly drawn out.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC.
April 21, 2026
**Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC. This has a publish date of June 2, 2026.**
COMMENTARY: A heartbreaking portrayal of the humanity abundant even amid the horrors of death, humiliation and grief. A celebration of the community we find that becomes family and how the generations before us and their choices echo down into our present.
QUOTE: “My heart pounded and I breathed heavily as I closed my eyes tight, as tight as I could, and dove into my own abyss. I read the scriptures of my soul, my own truths—and I drew them up my spine with each breath, as if drawing fluid up a straw, until I calmed down. I got up.”
COMMENTARY: A heartbreaking portrayal of the humanity abundant even amid the horrors of death, humiliation and grief. A celebration of the community we find that becomes family and how the generations before us and their choices echo down into our present.
QUOTE: “My heart pounded and I breathed heavily as I closed my eyes tight, as tight as I could, and dove into my own abyss. I read the scriptures of my soul, my own truths—and I drew them up my spine with each breath, as if drawing fluid up a straw, until I calmed down. I got up.”
May 30, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
This book is part war story, part coming of age, part soap opera, and part romance.
The subject matter is harrowing and visceral at times but those were the most successful parts in my opinion. This fictional account of the Arab Spring is written so well.
Some of the more soap opera type moments didn't capture my interest, nor the extended dream sequences.
Overall though, this book is unsettling in a way that really makes you invested. It had ebbs and flows but I would definitely recommend it.
This book is part war story, part coming of age, part soap opera, and part romance.
The subject matter is harrowing and visceral at times but those were the most successful parts in my opinion. This fictional account of the Arab Spring is written so well.
Some of the more soap opera type moments didn't capture my interest, nor the extended dream sequences.
Overall though, this book is unsettling in a way that really makes you invested. It had ebbs and flows but I would definitely recommend it.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I read this book in nearly one sitting...
A story of passion, intrigue and a strong female character with a twist of revenge. Stunning imagery and hearts that will make you believe the best in humanity during these current times. Finished my pre-ordered copy from the publisher this weekend! Morsis poignant take on families twisted through the pressure of war and survival will leave you aching too.
A story of passion, intrigue and a strong female character with a twist of revenge. Stunning imagery and hearts that will make you believe the best in humanity during these current times. Finished my pre-ordered copy from the publisher this weekend! Morsis poignant take on families twisted through the pressure of war and survival will leave you aching too.
May 30, 2026
This is such a masterpiece. The voice. The words, the words the words! The story is complex. Tough. It made me cry but without nostalgia or sentimentality. Five stars because I absolutely fell in love with the ending.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews