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‘Maryam & Son’: a Space for Small Lives and Big Grief That Larger Waves of Global Politics Disallow

by Saloni Sharma

Published 2026-06-21 03:00:00+00:00

How does a woman keep her own name when the world turns her son into a headline?

0:00 / 9:06 · Narrator Charon

Context

Published on 21 June 2026, the piece looks at Mirza Waheed’s latest novel and what happens when a private life is suddenly swallowed by global politics. The story moves past familiar tropes of radicalization to focus on the messy, private life of a mother left behind in a London suburb. It questions the labels society places on those caught in the wake of political violence, offering a quiet space for the kind of individual grief that big-picture geopolitics often ignores.

Show notes

Mirza Waheed’s novel Maryam & Son follows a London mother whose son disappears and is later identified as an ISIS operative. The narrative traces the intersection of domestic grief and global radicalization, focusing on the dehumanizing effects of state surveillance and media scrutiny. This analysis situates the novel’s themes within the broader context of immigrant identity and the collateral damage of geopolitical conflict.

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