“The horror of civil war and yearning for normalcy are presented with soulful, harrowing detail by the pseudonymous Samer, a 24-year-old Syrian activist who smuggled his diaries, coded word by coded word, to the BBC. In gripping sequences, Samer describes how life in his home city of Raqqa quickly deteriorated after “liberation” from the Syrian government, as the Islamic State forces imposed their own bloody regime. Samer, a thoughtful and compelling protagonist, writes with both poetic poignancy and blunt honesty of his mother’s worry for his safety; the physical destruction of the city and the deterioration of living conditions; and the blighting of Raqqa’s soul as whippings, beheading, and stonings became common. The city came to a standstill as people feared being on the street, and most had no money to spend due to the onerous financial burdens imposed by ISIS. Samer eventually fled his home to save his own life, joining the great mass of refugees escaping the war zone. Remarkably, Samer retains some sense of hope by the end. This striking work should be required reading to raise awareness and to remove any shred of doubt that our world is being rocked by a humanitarian crisis of epic proportion.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Raqqa, located in eastern Syria, is one of the most isolated cities in the world owing to the current occupation by the Islamic State (IS). The IS is ruling the civilian population through fear and intimidation. Outside journalists are banned from this area and the penalty for speaking to Western media is death by beheading. The BBC was able to get in contact with the small activist group Al-Sharqiya 24. A member of this group agreed to write a personal diary about his experience using the pseudonym Samer. His book provides a rare look at civilian life inside Raqqa. There are details of the fear tactics employed by IS that include cruel public punishments, with IS recruiting children as young as eight years old to carry them out. Transporting the diaries out of Raqqa was permeated with communication challenges, with frequent days of anxious silence from the activist group. To help protect Samer, his words were encrypted and sent to a third country before being passed on to the BBC. The details of Samer’s experience are often times shocking yet provide an important document of this region’s history. VERDICT Highly recommended for anyone interested in better understanding the impact of IS in Syria.” — Library Journal