Rites of non-existence

The first half of the book traces a sordid childhood, where the author's mother mysteriously leaves for a journey only to return and never speak of it

The book opens to Habiburahman, a three-year-old Rohingya child living in Burma, now Myanmar, under the Buddhist military dictatorship. The dictator U Ne Win, in 1983, has a new project. A law comes into place, and from then onwards, to retain Burmese citizenship, one has to belong to one of the 135 recognised ethnic groups, which form part of the eight “national races.” With a stroke of a pen the Rohingya officially disappear from Burma.

The first half of the book traces a sordid childhood, where the author’s mother mysteriously leaves for a journey only to return and never speak of