" They fought about Elie’s novel, the same goddamn novel Souad had heard about as a teenager in that Kuwaiti café. It was like an unwanted houseguest that haunted her marriage. It was never-ending. Elie would speak at times of being nearly finished, then something would shift, and he’d call the whole thing rubbish and spend weeks morosely staring out of the study window. "

― Hala Alyan , Salt Houses