Amity provides a window to the wreckage caused by wars - the destruction and displacement that leave pain and life-long psychological disorders, here specifically within the contexts of Yugoslavia's dissolution and Iran's revolution.Payvand, an Iranian refugee and activist, still plagued with nightmares, meets a Ragusa, a Yugoslavian refugee whose pockets are loaded with stones as she prepares to walk into the water and end her life, a life that has become intolerable since the loss of those most dear to her.Payvand listens to Ragusa's story and Ragusa promises to postpone her suicide at least until she hears Payvand's story in turn. In a novel that strives to raise awareness about the extent to which elites manipulate nations into wars, with total disregard for the lives of millions like Payvand Ragusa, it is the warmth of personal relationships and friendships forged that are key to healing."Apart from being a beautifully written and heart-wrenching novel, this is an important book, a timely book that needs to be read and, read now. It speaks powerfully to the devastating anguish of families ripped apart by war and conflict, of loved ones tortured and killed - we hear the news, but it all happens outside of us, far away, and our empathy is unavoidably remote. The imagery in this novel is so vivid, I felt as if I were watching a movie, sitting with Payvand Ragusa as they forged an unbreakable bond while retelling the stories of their shattered lives. When I finished the book, I felt as if they too were my friends, to be remembered and carried in my heart." - Lisa de Nikolits, author of A Glittering Chaos, The Witchdoctor's Bones and Beneath the Cracks She Fell