Sea Prayer

A Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller

A deeply moving, gorgeously illustrated short story for people of all ages from the international bestselling author of The Kite Runner, brought to life by Dan Williams's beautiful illustrations

On a moonlit beach a father cradles his sleeping son as they wait for dawn to break and a boat to arrive. He speaks to his boy of the long summers of his childhood, recalling his grandfather's house in Syria, the stirring of olive trees in the breeze, the bleating of his grandmother's goat, the clanking of her cooking pots. And he remembers, too, the bustling city of Homs with its crowded lanes, its mosque and grand souk, in the days before the sky spat bombs and they had to flee.

When the sun rises they and those around them will gather their possessions and embark on a perilous sea journey in search of a new home.

“As moving as any of his novels… For all its brevity packs a powerful punch” –  i

“Dan Williams's watercolours are a haunting companion to the contemplative and poetic story… Opens up many powerful emotions about family, survival and childhood” –  Observer

“The book may be brief, but it is beautiful, poetic – a distillation of his strengths” –  Sunday Times

Khaled Hosseini is one of the most widely read and beloved novelists in the world, with over 55 million copies of his books sold in more than 70 countries. The Kite Runner was a major film and was a Book of the Decade, chosen by The Times, Daily Telegraph and Guardian. A Thousand Splendid Suns was the Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year in 2008. And the Mountains Echoed was chosen for the Richard & Judy Summer Book Club in 2014, and readers voted it as their favourite of all the titles. Hosseini is also a Goodwill Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Refugee Agency and the founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation which provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. He was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and lives in northern California.
khaledhosseini.com @khaledhosseini