A Saltwater Requiem

Inspired by the fact that around 150 Arabic names appeared on the passenger manifest of the Titanic, this sweeping historical novel follows a Syrian immigrant family meeting their fates both on and off the storied ship.

Elias is the golden son of Tanios, patriarch of an affluent Christian family in the village of Saidnaya. But their good fortune takes a turn when Elias is forcibly conscripted by the Ottoman army the morning after his extravagant wedding to the town beauty. As Ottoman occupation draws closer, they’re left with no choice but to abandon their beloved homeland for the possibility of a better life in America.

Throughout their fraught voyage—with stops in Beirut, Marseille, and eventually Southampton—tensions, secrets, and agendas bubble up from below the surface. Matriarch Nazira desperately clings to the family’s waning status, while eldest daughter Mariam fights for autonomy from her mother’s rigid expectations. Youngest son Joseph meets a dashing man and gets swept up in London’s publishing scene. Trusted maid Sawsan tries to salvage her dignity amid an illicit affair. Who will get left behind, and who will careen forward—and which outcome will leave them in better stead?

Blending folklore and intergenerational memory, and with great affection for its female and queer characters, A Saltwater Requiem is a sprawling multi-perspective novel that takes a piece of popular history and makes it new again, centering a non-white story aboard the “unsinkable” ship to conjure a moving and universal tale of belonging.