Take What You Can Carry: A Novel

by Gian Sardar

Overview

An aspiring photographer follows her dreams and faces her fears in a poignant novel about finding beauty, promise, and love amid the chaos of war-torn Kurdistan.

It’s 1979. Olivia Murray, a secretary at a Los Angeles newspaper, is determined to become a photojournalist and make a difference with her work. When opportunity arrives, she seizes it, accompanying her Kurdish boyfriend, Delan, to northern Iraq for a family wedding, hoping to capture an image that lands her a job in the photo department. More important, though, the trip is a chance to understand Delan’s childhood and bridge the differences of their pasts. Yet when the return home proves less safe than Delan believed, Olivia is confronted with a reality she had not expected, and is awakened to the dangers of a town patrolled by Iraqi military under curfew and constant threat.

But in this world torn apart by war, there are intoxicating sights and scents, Delan’s loving family, innocence not yet compromised, and small acts of kindness that flourish unexpectedly. All of it will be tested when Olivia captures a shattering, tragic moment on film, one that upends all their lives and proves that true bravery begins with an open heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781542022422
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	05/01/2021
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	653,337
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Gian Sardar was born in Los Angeles, California. Her father is from Kurdistan of Iraq, and her mother is from Minnesota. She studied creative writing at Loyola Marymount University, is the author of the novel You Were Here, and is the coauthor of the memoir Psychic Junkie. Gian’s work has appeared in the New York Times and Confrontation Magazine and on Salon.com, among other places. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and insane dog, and she enjoys gardening, cooking, and other forms of procrastination. For more information, visit www.giansardar.com.

Editorial Reviews

This is an unforgettable story about war and family, responsibility and love, but Sardar also pays tribute to the priceless connections we forge at the most terrible moments…A heartbreaking story about war, family, and love.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Olivia is a secretary at a Los Angeles newspaper aspiring to be a photojournalist, so when her Kurdish boyfriend Delan is invited home to Iraq for a wedding, she sees tagging along as her chance to not only broaden her work, but to learn more about Delan’s culture. In 1979, Iraq is plagued by war and when the trip proves to be even less safe than they anticipated, Olivia is confronted with a side of the world she’s never experienced. But amid the war is beauty, family, and love—until Olivia captures a tragic moment and upends all of their lives.” —Buzzfeed

“Timely, romantic, and thrilling from start to finish, Gian Sardar crafts a story with great beauty and heartbreak, reminding us the harder we work to truly know one another, the better we come to understand ourselves. Those of us who love books know this is exactly why we read.” —Steven Rowley, bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor

“At once heartbreaking and hopeful, this story’s magic is in the power its characters have to love—a partner, a family, a homeland, a people—deeply and unconditionally. I was gripped by Gian Sardar’s emotional storytelling until the final page.” —Jill Santopolo, New York Times bestselling author of More Than Words

“Lush and sensual and dangerous, Take What You Can Carry is an eye-opening story that deserves to be told. Gian Sardar’s prose is breathtaking; and her book took me on a fascinating journey that I’d never before imagined. A true original.” —Janelle Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Things and Watch Me Disappear

“Take What You Can Carry by Gian Sardar is a beautifully written, absorbing novel that swept me away to 1979 Kurdistan and Los Angeles. Filled with richly drawn characters, it’s by turns a love story and a war story, a coming-of-age and a tragedy, but ultimately a story about hope and the depth of family bonds. Lush, atmospheric, and gorgeous, this is an unforgettable novel.” —Jillian Cantor, USA Today bestselling author of The Lost Letter and In Another Time

“With lush, vivid settings, Take What You Can Carry is a story of love and family, and of the heartbreaking power of returning home to the place that knows you best.” —Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight

“Take What You Can Carry is that rare dream of a novel that transports readers to a time and place—late 1970s Kurdistan, Iraq—with the power and immediacy of a lush perfume. Sardar delivers a high-stakes love story between a Kurdish immigrant turned Hollywood actor and a fierce aspiring photojournalist that uncovers the burden and blessing of family, ambition, and privilege during times of political upheaval. A thoroughly modern journey to the recent past, this novel is an aching pleasure, a revelation.” —Yoojin Grace Wuertz, author of Everything Belongs to Us

“Take What You Can Carry is a poignant tale of love and loss, persecution and betrayal. Gian Sardar vividly portrays the heartbreak of two lovers swept up in a political turmoil that threatens to tear them apart as it rips at the fabric of the Kurdish way of life. It’s both a sweeping love story and an epic adventure that will have you frantically turning pages while brushing away tears.” —Bianca Marais, author of Hum If You Don’t Know the Words and If You Want to Make God Laugh

“Set forth in vivid, propulsive writing, Take What You Can Carry is a love story that is also a love song to the Kurdish people and an adventure tale that balances the risks of ambition with the costs of responsibility. Blending romance and near history, Gian Sardar has produced a tale filled with indelible images and characters one comes to know as family. A rich and satisfying read.” —Meg Howrey, author of The Wanderers

“Take What You Can Carry is a beautifully crafted, heartrending portrait of the disparate worlds of America and Kurdistan in the 1970s woven together with an epic love story that is rich, tragic, compelling, and realized with deep care and insight. Powerful and moving.” —Suzanne Redfearn, bestselling author of In an Instant

“Take What You Can Carry is a heart-wrenching journey of understanding between two worlds as foreign as they are familiar that will change everything you thought you knew about Iraq.” —Kristin Fields, author of A Lily in the Light and A Frenzy of Sparks

From the Publisher

2021-03-03
An aspiring American photographer travels to war-ravaged Kurdistan with her Iraqi-born boyfriend.

Inspired by her father’s stories of growing up in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Sardar’s new novel is a devastating reminder of what happens when American privilege smacks against hard reality. Set in 1979, the novel focuses on Olivia, a secretary at a Los Angeles newspaper who dreams of becoming a professional photographer. When her actor boyfriend, Delan, a Kurdish immigrant, decides to attend a family wedding in northern Iraq, she jumps at the chance to tag along, thrilled at the idea of traveling to such a bold destination, meeting his family, and, most importantly, taking the sort of exotic photos that will secure her a new career. Olivia is dimly aware that the country is politically unsettled, but the landscape turns out to be far more treacherous than she imagined, and life-threatening chaos shatters her romantic notions about photography in a war zone. Sardar’s decision to make her protagonist American and not Kurdish is deliberate, and she places the reader squarely in Olivia’s inexperienced shoes with compassion and insight. Warm and lush descriptions of the Kurdish countryside and culture contrast vividly to sudden moments of unthinkable violence. This is an unforgettable story about war and family, responsibility and love, but Sardar also pays tribute to the priceless connections we forge at the most terrible moments. “To identify that thing you long for and seek it out, it’s heartbreakingly human,” Olivia thinks. What she wants so desperately—intimacy, stability, success—will come at a high cost.

A heartbreaking story about war, family, and love.

Kirkus Reviews