One of the things that contemporary literary fiction can do better than anything else is make its readers see, and understand, things that are not just outside their experience, but beyond their comprehension. This is what Guy Gunaratne does, outstandingly, in their novels, first in 2018’s multiaward-winning In Our Mad and Furious City, set on an urban estate in the aftermath of a killing similar to that of Lee Rigby, and now in their new book, the unsettling, unforgettable Mister, Mister, which tackles with nuanced insight one of the most difficult topics of our time. In this layered, lyrical, tender and terrifying tale, Guy puts the reader inside the head of Yahya Bas, a young, disaffected poet who becomes radicalised and finds himself, at the beginning of the book, in a UK detention centre after fleeing from Syria, being interrogated by the ‘Mister’ of the book’s title.
Speaking on Zoom from their home in Sweden, Guy’s gentle, thoughtful presence does nothing to mask their burning intensity, their seriousness or the questioning insight they bring to their creative life as the author of works that tackle questions of identity and belonging/ not belonging in a fractured, divided society.
‘People like Yahya
