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Review: The Teacher of Nomad Land

ByAimee Davis

In the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the more memorable phrases comes from Atticus gently chastising Scout when he discovers the children making fun of Boo Radley. He expresses to her the truth that loving your neighbor is “climb[ing] around in his skin and walk[ing] around in it”. Quality literature— living books, as Charlotte Mason would name them— are those books that can do what Atticus reminds us. They give insight into the lives of people, places, and times that we might never visit, but through the eyes of a skilled author, we can grow in empathy and the ability to “walk around in another’s skin.”

Daniel Nayeri is such an author. All of his stories dive richly into a culture that to our Western eyes can often become clouded and misunderstood. He provides a way to meet people and places that most people only hear about in the context of the news channels, and he gives life and history to these places. In his latest book, The Teacher of Nomad Land, Nayeri takes us back to the days of World War II and to a place that we typically would never consider as a player in this giant part of history. Unbeknownst to me, Iran was a neutral territory during the war, yet it was a place desired by both sides, all for the sake of its rich oil reserves. It was eventually occupied by both the Soviets and Britain. Spies, refugees, military commanders, and more fled into Iran. This shadowed history is the backdrop of this story.

The story opens introducing us to two orphaned children, Babak and Sana, who are planning to run away from the homes they’ve been separated into. Their father had carried a chalkboard on his back and wandered through the nomadic lands teaching wandering tribes how to read. Babak clings to this chalkboard as the one remaining piece of his father, and he and his sister seek out the tribes as a possible place of refuge—only to be rejected. Babak wrestles with his new role as protector and provider, and Sana never gives up her role of encourager. 

Nomad Land is a reminder of how the world is a place of good and evil, and even in a children’s story, we can be reminded of courage and grit. We meet a fumbling Nazi spy, a humorous British soldier, and a Jewish boy who has escaped atrocities. Through all these characters, our eyes and hearts are opened wider. This is a story that resonates perfectly with the words from The Brothers Karamazov, “something profound will appear at the end of time to make sense of all the bloodshed.” 

This is a story of language and understanding. Babak and Sana’s father desired to give the gift of language to a people. Through the children’s escape, Babak begins to understand that teaching is “the art of making things the right size. Specific…to make the world understandable in parts. No one learns a language all at once. You start with letters.” It is through starting with letters that we grow a language, understanding, and eventually, trust. For the characters in the story that mirror evil, their understanding never moves beyond pictures and letters. They leave scars, but the story is larger than the scars. We know that redemption comes through pain and suffering and often leaves scars, but it tells the whole story: one that is more than pictures and letters. 

There is an image of Daniel Nayeri lying on his stomach in his writing shed, taken by a photographer for Christianity Today. His smile is playful, and the room is bright and inviting. Playful is also how I would describe Nayeri’s writing, whether he is retelling the story of his immigration to America or the history of Iran during World War II. There is a lightness in his stories, even in the midst of heavy things.His latest story, The Teacher of Nomad Land, is no different. Nayeri has a way of speaking about his writing and his life that is deeply refreshing.  Every ounce of his writing points towards our true home.

Aimee Davis
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