When the Moon Is Low: A Mother's Flight, A Son's Journey, A Family Torn by War

"We are like the moon—sometimes whole, sometimes broken, but always searching for light."

Fereiba once lived a life filled with love, learning, and the warmth of family in Kabul. A schoolteacher married to Mahmoud, a man who adored her beyond measure, she had built a future filled with promise. But when the Taliban’s grip tightens, that future shatters. Mahmoud, marked as an enemy, is murdered in cold blood, leaving Fereiba alone in a city that is no longer home.

With danger pressing in, she has no choice but to flee, her three children in tow, chasing the fragile hope of asylum in England. Under the cover of night, they slip across mountains into Iran, hearts pounding with every step. Strangers offer moments of kindness, forged papers become lifelines, and exhaustion is a constant companion. By the time they reach Greece, escape feels within reach—until, in a single moment of chaos, her teenage son Saleem vanishes.

As Fereiba presses on to London with her younger children, Saleem is left adrift in a shadowy world of lost souls, navigating the unforgiving streets of refugee-laden Europe alone. Across borders and through the depths of despair, mother and son fight for reunion, for survival, and for a future they refuse to let war steal from them.

A novel of exile and endurance, When the Moon Is Low is an unflinching yet tender portrait of those who must leave everything behind to find a new beginning. Haunting, luminous, and deeply moving, 

it asks: how far will a mother go for her children? And can hope ever be truly lost, or does it simply wait to be found?