Meral Kureyshi

Elephants in Our Yard Meral Kureyshi

When her father dies unexpectedly; the young narrator of; Elephants in Our Yard finds her life thrown into disarray. As a member of a Turkish Kosovar family now living in Switzerland; she feels unwelcome in her adopted homeland and struggles to fit in and make connections with others. Aimless and adrift; she spends a year living in a state of uncertainty; fitfully attending lectures at the university; taking long train rides; and returning to places from her previous life in Prizren. Memories of her idyllic childhood in this old Ottoman city; from which she emigrated with her family at the age of ten; force their way into the present. But the world of her childhood no longer exists; and she realizes that she; too; has changed. As she tries to find a place for herself in her new country and becomes fluent in her adopted language; she becomes increasingly more estranged from her mother with every new word of German she speaks. Elephants in Our Yard is a poignant first novel about a life marked by migration and alienation; sadness and loss; but also by hope and new beginnings.