Nabeel's Song: A Family Story of Survival in Iraq

NABEEL'S SONG is an epic true story of one family s experience of life before, during and after the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Nabeel Yasin had an ordinary childhood, in a middle-class neighbourhood in 1950s Baghdad. He showed an early gift for poetry and as a young man became famous for it. But by the end of the 1970s Saddam's rise to power was encroaching on his life, and that of his family. Nabeel's brothers were arrested and he himself was denounced as an enemy of the state and fled Iraq in 1980.

NABEEL'S SONG tells his story, and that of the family that he left behind; his matriarch of a mother Sabria, his four brothers and their rebellion against Saddam's regime, and his two sisters - all ordinary people living in extraordinary and difficult times. This is a moving family story of exile and endurance.

'Jo Tatchell's moving narrative, from Nabeel's mouth, tells of endurance, literary resistance and the courage of a loving, close-knit family opporessed by tyranny and war' The Times

“'Utterly compelling ... what emerges is a resilient family's unconditional love for one another'”

'Such an extraordinary story deserves an extraordinary writer and thankfully it has Jo Tatchell. She puts you perfectly in the place, and her pacey, page-turner narrative would shame most thriller writers. A staggering, unmissable achievement.' - John Harding, Daily Mail

A moving personal tale of family life and love torn apart by persecution and destruction under a crude regime. The story shines through, engrossing in its horror, doubly powerful for the knowledge that a happy ending is still far away. - Financial Times

- Scotland on Sunday

Jo Tatchell is a journalist who has spent many years in the Middle East and Arab countries. She writes on Middle Eastern culture for UK and US media including the Guardian and Prospect Magazine.

Nabeel Yasin is famous in Iraq as a poet best known for his epic poem Brother Yasin. Since 1990 he has lived in the UK with his wife and two sons.

NABEEL'S SONG is an epic true story of one family s experience of life before, during and after the regime of Saddam Hussein.Nabeel Yasin had an ordinary childhood, in a middle-class neighbourhood in 1950s Baghdad. He showed an early gift for poetry and as a young man became famous for it. But by the end of the 1970s Saddam's rise to power was encroaching on his life, and that of his family. Nabeel's brothers were arrested and he himself was denounced as an enemy of the state and fled Iraq in 1980. NABEEL'S SONG tells his story, and that of the family that he left behind; his matriarch of a mother Sabria, his four brothers and their rebellion against Saddam's regime, and his two sisters - all ordinary people living in extraordinary and difficult times. This is a moving family story of exile and endurance.'Jo Tatchell's moving narrative, from Nabeel's mouth, tells of endurance, literary resistance and the courage of a loving, close-knit family opporessed by tyranny and war' The Times

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