So what’s it about?
Nila the Bleeding Garden describes the turbulent journey of an Afghan girl called Nila who suddenly has to escape her homeland with her family during the long Afghan war.
As a child refugee, she experiences the trauma of displacement, first to Pakistan and then to Canada, during which her family struggles to survive and slowly falls apart.
This novel describes the loss and dysfunction caused by war and displacement, suffered by so many in our times. No reader will fail to be moved by this utterly gripping tale.
And the reviews are amazing!
“Nila the Bleeding Garden is a riveting and brave account of the horrors a family faces for the crime of being born in tumultuous Afghanistan. Laila Re writes with sincerity, precision, and passion, portraying the striking vulnerability of characters fleeing one unwelcoming place for the next, only to lose a bit of themselves with each displacement.”
—Ava Homa, author of Daughters of Smoke and Fire“Nila the Bleeding Garden is a painful book to read. By the time I read the final words of it, I felt devastated. The story is true and told in the simplest language. It speaks directly to your heart. It’s an important story, especially so in today’s world where we cannot and must not, turn our eyes away from the plight of refugees.”
—Tehmina Khan, author of Things She Could Never Have
5 fun facts about me:
1. My debut novel is my first fiction manuscript I ever wrote.
2. I learned how to start a novel from a published award-winning author I met on Linkedin!
3. I wrote the first draft in less than a month!
4. Being a novelist was my childhood dream.
5. I couldn’t find an agent so I submitted my manuscript to publishers myself.
An excerpt:
“It was like holding on too tightly to a stem full of thorns. I was in love with the flower that was Kabul, but it was hurting me to hold on to it. I had to let Kabul go but I wasn’t ready or knew how to. I held on tight to the vision of returning to Kabul some day with my family. I held tight to the lie I told myself that this was just a vacation. I chose not to accept or embrace this new chapter. I let the thorns cut me like the bleeding garden that I was and always will be.”
Laila Re’s favorite songs:
- 2pac – changes
- Bob Marley – three little birds
- cold play – fix you
- mariah carey – my all
- sam cooke – a change is gonna come
- Bob Marley – Redemption Songs
- Mariah Carey – Hero
About the author:
Laila Re (b. Kabul, Afghanistan) is a poet based in Markham, Ontario. She escaped Kabul as a toddler with her family to Islamabad, Pakistan, before emigrating two years later to Canada in 1992 when she was five.
She attended York University in Toronto where she holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education and Master of Education.
She is the author of three collections of poetry: Pieces to Peace, Soul Led, and Beauty and Love. Her personal essay “Kabul Dreams” was published in the anthology The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth (Mawenzi House, 2016).