To be honest, it's not bad, but I would not recommend it. There are two narratives running in parallel in the story, the first one by a young female book editor, and her relation with the much older established author (inspired by Philip Roth), the second one is about an Iraqi economist, who's fled his country, but now wants to return to find his brother.
Even if Halliday manages to write a convincing, well-researched and disciplined prose about both stories, somehow it did nothing to me. Both main characters are in fact uninteresting, especially Alice's whose life is determined by her awe for the author she lives with. And of course the Iraqi economist gets all the expected hurdles of bureaucracy and prejudice to get where he wants to go.
The style is nothing special. Again well-balanced and unobtrusive, but is this what we like? We expect art to be non-committal and willing to take risks, to open new perspectives on life and language. What we get here is the exact opposite. Intelligence is not enough.
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