This is Also a Love Story

by Sally Hayden

Hardcover

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name on GR

Reviews

[Romzanul Islam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does love survive when bombs fall and dictators disappear people?

I just finished "This Is Also a Love Story: Searching for Good in a Divided World" by Sally Hayden, and I genuinely did not expect a book about war zones to leave me feeling this way — quietly hopeful, and a little more human than I was before I started it.

Hayden is an award-winning Irish journalist who has spent over a decade reporting from some of the darkest places on earth — Ukraine, Syria, Rwanda, Nigeria, Lebanon, Iraq, Uganda, Japan, Ghana.

And what she noticed, again and again, was that even in the middle of the worst things humans do to each other, people keep loving each other with a ferocity that is almost impossible to explain.

There is Irina in Kyiv, who carries her marriage certificate in her handbag at all times because she never knows when she might need to go and rescue her husband from the frontline.

There is Zainabeu in northeast Nigeria, who hid her twelve-year-old daughter in a ditch under her compound for months and covered herself in dirt and excrement to convince Boko Haram militants she was mentally unwell, just so they would leave her daughter alone.

There are Rwandan genocide survivors who elected each other as parents and siblings and called that love too. There is a man in Japan who built a post box in the woods so that people could write letters to their dead.

This is not a comfortable read. It is honest about how much has been lost, and how little journalism — including Hayden's own — has been able to change.

But it is also one of the most quietly radical books I have read in years, because it insists, with evidence, that goodness is not naive. It is everywhere. We just need to look for it in the right places.

If you have been feeling crushed by the news lately, this one is for you.

"When faced with abuse and barbarity, love feels like a form of resistance. Its existence can offer hope and inspiration, something to fight for and a goodness to hold on to." — Sally Hayden

Have you read it? I would love to know what you thought.

[Laura Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book full of stories of people living through terrible times and yet finding hope and strength in each other. It moved me, deeply, particularly the chapter on Rwanda and found families. Of course, the situations it’s describing are bleak, but the responses people have to them are hopeful - the determination to find love and positive things in the worst of times is inspiring. It also made me think - what a life to choose to pursue, as a foreign correspondent! This is such a vital and necessary book, and yet I know funding for this kind of reporting is disappearing - we need it.

[em · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book about resilience and love, even in situations where it feels impossible. This was hard to read but necessary, with Hayden giving the right amount of thought and insight into each person interviewed. Throughout everything, it was clear that there was so much love in these people and their stories, whether that be platonic, romantic, or familial. A wonderfully human account of some of the most horrific events.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #ThisIsAlsoALoveStory #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Issy Fleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very heavy and at times brutal, but also so so interesting, and bittersweet/ moving. Highly recommend