Culture | No heroes, only victims

The war in Yemen, as seen by ordinary Yemenis

Bushra al-Maqtari has collected their testimonies in “What Have You Left Behind?”

TOPSHOT - Yemeni students attend class in their destroyed school compound on the first day of the new academic year in the country's third-city of Taez on August 30, 2021. - Many schools in Yemen have been destroyed in the conflict between the government and the Huthi rebels or turned into refugee camps or military facilities. About two million children were without school even before the virus hit, according to the United Nations, which has warned the number will likely rise. (Photo by AHMAD AL-BASHA / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-BASHA/AFP via Getty Images)

What Have You Left Behind? By Bushra al-Maqtari. Translated by Sawad Hussain. Fitzcarraldo Editions; 256 pages; £12.99

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “No heroes, only victims”

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