Press
May 17, 2024
Bay Area Reporter “Beautifully written… immersive, erotic and memorable novel” – Alesamel’s “Selamlik”

Bay Area Reporter “Beautifully written… immersive, erotic and memorable novel” – Alesamel’s “Selamlik”

This beautifully written novel chronicles the life of Furat, a twenty something queer Syrian man who escapes his homeland of Aleppo in search of true liberation and the wonderous possibilities of desire and love.

Alesmael’s tone and language is consistently smooth and lushly descriptive as the story begins when Furat is in his first year studying English literature at the University of Aleppo, obsessed with reading E.M. Forster, and frequenting the Turkish baths (“hammams”) and gay cruising areas searching for connection and release.

As the story moves back and forth in time, things for Furat begin to change when he faints in the doorway of Ali, a man in his dormitory who would soon become his roommate and with whom he becomes enchanted and helplessly enamored with.


The author, a Syrian journalist now based in London, debuts with this immersive, erotic, and memorable novel about overcoming the restrictions of a prejudicial culture to live life to its fullest.