Nour Abi-Nakhoul

Heaping mystery upon mystery within a tinderbox of deeply unsettling behaviour, this nightmarish debut continually surprises with its narrative twists and flourished prose.

For those that dare, it will creep under your skin and set up home.

There, within the suddenness of the unending present, I was born.'An unnamed narrator comes to in a basement, tied to a chair, a man looming over her. Someone has a knife. She emerges from her captivity into a mysterious and nightmarish city, searching for meaning in her new reality. As figures emerge from the night, some offering sanctuary, and others judgement, she moves through a fever-dream narrative of alienation, fear, and the quest for respite. Nour Abi-Nakhoul's powerful debut novel, Supplication, is a hallucinatory literary horror set deep in the consciousness of a woman exploring a changed and frightening world.

“‘Supplication’ is as visceral and gripping as an actual nightmare, but also teeming with wisdom about selfhood and trauma.” – Ainslie Hogarth