# Read the first page of The Return by Hisham Matar

Read the opening of The Return by Hisham Matar free, no signup. A son returns to Libya searching for his vanished father.

- Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/the-return-hisham-matar
- Genre: Memoir
- Year: 2016
- ISBN: 9780812985085
- Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9780812985085&s=read-page
- Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9780812985085
- Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9780812985085

## The opening

Early morning, March 2012. My mother, my wife Diana and I were sitting in a row of seats that were bolted to the tiled floor of a lounge in Cairo International Airport. Flight 835 for Benghazi, a voice announced, was due to depart on time. Every now and then, my mother glanced anxiously at me. Diana, too, seemed concerned. She placed a hand on my arm and smiled. I should get up and walk around, I told myself. But my body remained rigid. I had never felt more capable of stillness.

The terminal was nearly empty. There was only one man sitting opposite us. He was overweight, weary-looking, possibly in his mid-fifties. There was something in the way he sat—the locked hands on the lap, the left tilt of the torso—that signaled resignation. Was he Egyptian or Libyan? Was he on a visit to the neighboring country or going home after the revolution? Had he been for or against Qaddafi? Perhaps he was one of those undecided ones who held their reservations close to their chest?

The voice of the announcer returned. It was time to board. I found myself standing at the front of the queue, Diana beside me. She had, on more than one occasion, taken me to the town where she was born, in northern California. I know the plants and the color of the light and the distances where she grew up. Now I was, finally, taking her to my land. She had packed the Hasselblad and the Leica, her two favorite cameras, and a hundred rolls of film. Diana works with great fidelity. Once she gets hold of a thread, she will follow it until the end. Knowing this excited and worried me. I am reluctant to give Libya any more than it has already taken.

## Books with a similar feel
- [Heavy by Kiese Laymon](https://uncovered.ink/read/heavy-kiese-laymon.md)
- [Strangers by Belle Burden](https://uncovered.ink/read/strangers-belle-burden.md)
- [I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou](https://uncovered.ink/read/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings-maya-angelou.md)
- [Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://uncovered.ink/read/between-the-world-and-me-ta-nehisi-coates.md)
- [Educated by Tara Westover](https://uncovered.ink/read/educated-tara-westover.md)
- [Wild by Cheryl Strayed](https://uncovered.ink/read/wild-cheryl-strayed.md)

---
Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.