The following works of literary fiction explore coming-of-age in war zones across different geographies and historical moments. My aim is to reveal glimpses of shared human experiences beyond political or socio-economic contexts. Amid constant violence, fear, and mistrust, the young protagonists in these stories confront loss and moral ambiguity far earlier than they should. Childhood habits and innocent practices are disrupted by displacement, scarcity, and grief, leading to rapid, unstable growth. These stories linger not on battles, but on interior lives and intimate rituals.
War by Candlelight by Daniel Alarcon
In War by Candlelight, Daniel Alarcón meditates on war, poverty and inequality. His short stories move fluidly across neighbourhoods, jungles and intimate domestic spaces. Set largely in Peru, especially Lima, and spanning several decades, the stories focus on people living at the margins. The collection captures both external conflicts, such as the fighting in Peru in the 1980s, and internal struggles over love, survival, and purpose. Alarcón’s prose is simple and clear, yet devastating. Though the stories range widely in theme and world-building, each offers an unforgettable portrait of individuals and a society in constant flux.
The Question of Bruno by Aleksander Hemon
This interrelated collection of short stories traces love and survival against siege and lurking snipers. From the instant Archduke Ferdinand watches his wife die to an exiled writer selling sandwiches in Chicago, Aleksandar Hemon captures how people are shaped and reshaped by catastrophe. The writing grips from the first page, marked by a striking rhythm, vivid description, and humour.
Second Person Singular by Sayed Kashua
This novel confronts casual racism and ingrained mistrust through two sharply contrasted narrators living in Jerusalem. One is an upper–middle-class lawyer who lives a bourgeois life modelled on the Israeli-Jewish culture surrounding him; the other is a bored social worker struggling among addicts. While the novel centers on themes of alienation and survival, an unspoken conflict underlies the narrative, marked by a quiet struggle for power within a shared territory.
The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
In The Meursault Investigation, Kamel Daoud offers a daring counterpoint to Camus’s The Stranger, restoring a name and a history to the anonymous “Arab” Meursault killed. Narrated by Harun, the dead man’s brother, the novel unfolds as a barroom confession to a stranger, echoing Camus’s The Fall. Opening with “Maman is still alive today,” Daoud immediately inverts Camus’s famous first line and interrogates the colonial logic that granted the French killer more power than his victim. Read alongside The Stranger, this novel becomes a powerful meditation on justice, memory, and inherited grief.
Beirut Blues by Hanan Al-Sheikh
Beirut Blues offers an unforgettable perspective on life in a city shaped by constant war, seen through the eyes of a young woman. Told through a series of letters written by Asmahan, who chooses to remain in war-ravaged Beirut, the novel addresses friends, family and the city itself. These letters become a means of survival, reflecting loss and endurance. As civil wars shift alliances and foreign powers intervene, Asmahan mourns the Beirut she once knew while revealing both her confusion and quiet strength.
Code Name: Butterfly by Ahlam Bsharat
Code Name: Butterfly by Ahlam Bsharat strives to capture adolescence under occupation with poetic restraint and emotional force. Through the inner monologue of a young Palestinian girl as she grows into adulthood, the story traces a life shaped by loss, poverty and incarceration. The narrator carries a private box of unspoken questions about family, betrayal, martyrdom, and the future of her people. Divided into five brief sections, the novel offers an intimate portrait of a teenage girl longing for normalcy in a world where normal life is impossible, revealing both resilience and fragile hope.
The Stone of Laughter by Huda Barakat
Set in war-torn Beirut, this pioneering queer Arab novel follows Khalil, a gay man struggling to survive the psychological and physical devastation of the Lebanese Civil War. The story captures daily life amid air raids, where ordinary routines persist alongside destruction. Khalil retreats into reading, fantasies of love, and an obsession with cleanliness, identifying more with the domestic roles of women even as hyper-masculine culture tightens around him. The novel’s disturbing conclusion: Khalil’s submission to violent patriarchal norms, underscores the war’s destructive force on identity, gender, and humanity.
Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah
Radiance of Tomorrow centers on Benjamin and Bockarie, two lifelong friends who return to their ruined hometown after Sierra Leone’s civil war. As they attempt to rebuild the village by resuming their roles as teachers, they confront hunger, violence, trauma, and the threat of a foreign mining company that promises jobs while stripping the land of life. Among the returnees are former child soldiers and orphans, forming fragile new communities shaped by loss. The novel is reminiscent of Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone, which gained great popularity when it was published in 2007.
About the Author: ASHRAF ZAGHAL is a Palestinian Canadian author who was born and raised in Jerusalem. He has published four poetry collections, and his work has been translated into English, French, and Hebrew. He is an editor of an online magazine focused on progressive literature and translation. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. His debut novel, Seven Heavens Away, is out now.