Twenty-four hours that change everything in the life of young Rasa: In a nameless country in the Middle East, violent protests shake the political order. The Arab Spring stands at a crossroads between military dictatorship and an Islamic regime. Rasa's world is also completely thrown into chaos. In search of his best friend, who is being tortured in the prisons of the authorities, he wanders through the slums of his city. He dares not go home, for his grandmother has discovered his unspeakable secret. As the most important relationships in his life threaten to fall apart, Rasa must find his place in a society that may never accept him. Unflinchingly and movingly, Saleem Haddad tells in his debut novel of an impossible love in times of radical upheaval.