This is a gripping look into the experiences of a family in Norway whose teenage daughters vanish and head to Syria to join Islamic State (IS) in its jihad.
The Two Sisters of the title are Somali immigrants Ayan and Leila who are 19 and 16 when they walk out one morning without any warning – their mother and father think they have gone to school and only later learn to their horror that they have left forever.
The author Asne Seierstad is a skilled investigative reporter with an uncanny ability to present the world of her subjects as if she was there when they spoke.
Along the way, many other characters in Muslim and Somali communities of Norway emerge, giving light and shade to these groupings so often portrayed as cariacatures.
Seierstad made her name internationally with The Bookseller of Kabul, which was also an enthralling insight into a culture foreign to the average western reader.
There also are comparisons to be drawn with last year’s non-fiction title Nujeen where two Muslim sisters – one also 16 – leave Syria to seek a new life in the west.
Nujeen Mustafa became an international celebrity for her journey in a wheelchair from bomb-hit Aleppo to Germany and the story of the disabled teenager with a sweet smile travelling thousands of kilometres to escape the war tugged at the heart strings.
Having read Nujeen, it is puzzling to me as a reader why other youngsters would choose to exchange a life of safety and comfort for a war zone.
And it is the youngsters who go – Seierstad notes that about 90 sets of Norwegian parents have children who have gone to join the jihad. Two Sisters sheds light on the “why”.
It start when the sisters’ family settle in a wealthy, well-educated part of Norway, just outside Oslo, where they all feel their “outsider” status.
However, while the father and older brother revel in new freedoms, the mother and sisters are worried they will lose their identity and feel their faith may be under threat.
Older sister Ayan in particular comes across as a girl with a sharp mind and an iron will, while Leila seems to have felt incredibly isolated as a dark-skinned Muslim in secular and liberal Norway – these are all clues as to why they may have left.
There is also the suggestion of a certain Che Guevara allure in running off to join the holy war effort but for Leila and Ayan at least, their move was a religious imperative, not a romantic teenage whim.
In fact, they are insulted by their brother’s implications that they will end up warming the beds of Jihadi fighters, seeing their mission as one more likely to lead to death with a glorious – and pretty much guaranteed – afterlife in paradise.
However, whereas Nujeen narrates her own story, Seierstad never meets her Two Sisters ,which means we never hear their voices as they would like to be heard.
Seierstad repeatedly tried to speak to them but was not successful. In addition, as their relatives one by one have questioned their choices, both Ayan and Leila have cut off contact.
Although the book is a fascinating read, the sisters are themselves something of an enigma.
What is particularly intriguing to a reader in 2018 – as the book was first published in Norway in 2016 and only translated now – where are they today? – Gillian McAinsh
Two Sisters Into The Syrian Jihad by Asne Seierstad, published by LittleBrown.