Salutation Road explores fallout of self-betrayal

Cast your mind inwards and search within yourself for that moment of self-betrayal. It might feel easier, in the moment, to run away from some mistakes, even if it means wronging yourself.

- Tay Hong Yi

SALUTATION ROAD By Salma Ibrahim Mantle (Pan Macmillan)/ Paperback/244 pages/ $34.32 ☆☆☆

Salma Ibrahim probes the consequences of forsaking oneself in this briskly written debut, a commendable effort that nonetheless struggles against its billing as speculative fiction.

Protagonist Sirad Ali is a young British-Somali Muslim adult whose parents escaped from civil war to Britain with her as a toddler in tow.

In the modern day, she is invited to join an experiment to experience an alternate reality in which she never left Somalia with her parents.

The shady research colloquium behind the endeavor claims "crossing over" will let immigrants, especially those of colour, get in touch with their roots, as well as bridge differences in a post-Brexit era marred by xenophobia and racism.

A skeptical Sirad finds herself accidentally whisked to this reality, coming face-to-face with her alternate self, Ubah, in Mogadishu.