A beautifully dynamic novel which connects five characters caught in the crosshairs of conflict on the Sudanese border.

A mysterious burnt corpse appears one morning in Saraaya, a remote border town between northern and southern Sudan. For five strangers on an NGO compound, this discovery foreshadows more trouble to come.

Everyone has a different story. William, a South Sudanese translator, connects the corpse to the sudden disappearance of cook Layla, a nomad from the north with whom he's fallen in love. Amidst the chaos, Dena, a Sudanese-American filmmaker, struggles to find a connection with her homeland. There is Alex, a white aid worker from the American Midwest whose plans in the country are derailed by a rapidly changing climate and an impending civil war. And then there is Mustafa, a precocious twelve-year-old boy, whose plans to escape poverty set off a series of cataclysmic events on the compound.

Living in a Sudan riven by conflict presents challenges for William, Layla, Dena, Alex and Mustafa. To overcome them, they must forge bonds stronger than the blood they don't share. Fatin Abbas weaves a story of Sudan's partition into the fabric of her characters identities while exploring the porous and perilous nature of borders. Ghost Season is a gripping, must-have debut that announces Abbas as a powerful new voice in fiction.

"Ghost Season is a gripping debut from Fatin Abbas about the porous and perilous nature of human made borders." - Chicago Review of Books

"a daring debut" - New York Times

"Abbas skillfully navigates boundaries between the disparate players and builds a fine drama out of their negotiations and bonds. Readers will be captivated by this immersive novel." - Publisher's Weekly

"Abbas' first novel gets an A for its evocation of setting..." - Booklist

"Abbas adds just the right amount of sense of place to paint the scene and the cultures without letting it get in the way of her characters and their stories. Ghost Season is a wonderful debut from a truly talented writer. This is an author to watch and, above all, to read." - New York Journal of Books

"[A] remarkable debut... The sense of place is powerful, the characters superbly drawn." - The Big Thrill