They Will Drown in Their Mothers Tears is a brutal dystopian/speculative fiction narrative tackling xenophobia, Islamophobia and racism in Sweden, though honestly it could be many countries in Europe. It doesn’t hold back on graphic imagery, so please take care of yourself if you read it, especially Muslim friends.

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In Anyuru’s future Sweden, ‘anti-Swedish’ citizens are rounded up and forced to live in squalid conditions in The Rabbit Yard. I’m bad at explaining alternate timelines, but basically there are two and a young girl comes back from the horrific one with The Rabbit Yard to try and stop a terror attack which leads to that future. She survives it, and tells her story to a young Muslim author who visits her in a psychiatric hospital.

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Not only is the speculative fiction aspect extremely clever and mind-bending, the social and political commentary is on point. Anyuru points out that so much of the narrative around Islamophobia lays the blame for it at the feet of Muslims; in this case, the Swedes hate them because of what they do or don’t do, avoiding the fact that the root cause of that hatred lies with them. It is their problem.

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He also covers anti-immigrant tendencies, the idea of nationality and citizenship - what makes someone a Swede and someone ‘other’, despite having been born and raised there. What makes it so terrifying is how much it reflects current politics and anti-immigrant sentiments all over the world. It’s a tough read, both in content and, if you’re like me, in terms of wrapping your head around the speculative bit, but I really hope this book gets more English-speaking readers.