About the Book

Set in a mist-shrouded village outside time, Shard of Belonging is a transformative novel about return, healing, and the quiet courage to stay.

Sabir, a once-promising artist, returns home after years of self-exile—not to start over, but to stop running. Haunted by creative silence and the ghosts of a fractured family, he seeks stillness. But an encounter with a predestined woman, a quiet yet grounded gardener, an intuitive baker, and an invitation to paint a mural for the village church draw him into a journey of emotional reckoning.

Woven with elemental symbols—stone, bread, thread, and light—the story explores grief, creative rediscovery, intimacy, and the sacred in daily life. The village becomes a place where Sabir can confront his past and reclaim his voice.

More than a romance or tale of artistic revival, Shards of Belonging is a meditation on presence, forgiveness, and learning to stay with one’s gift. And embrace that gift with love and with oneself.

Shards of Belonging

A Canvas of Silence

A story about returning, remembering, and the quiet courage to stay.

  • “So sad and lonely, yet beautifully said in a way that lingers long after reading.”

  • “Somatically descriptive and beautiful — I could feel the character’s inner state in my own body.”

  • “Mermer’s line carried real wisdom; it struck me with unexpected depth.”

  • Shards of Belonging reads almost like a long-form prose poem, a ballad from the olden times.”

  • “My emotional response was one of experiencing a story through an artist’s eyes—a feeling of coming home within oneself.”

  • “Sabir is a terrific character, and Mermer offers a deeply relatable window into the inner critic most of us carry.”

  • “The purity and love between Nura and Sabir was heartwarming and special.”

  • Brilliantly giving Sabir’s self-doubt a voice made self-healing feel tangible and deeply moving.”

  • “The writing is simply beautiful. The village itself became a living character—watchful, remembering, and slowly waking.”

  • “The story shows that holiness isn’t in grand gestures, but in everyday acts of living. It filled me with awe and made me see the world differently.”

  • “The ending felt like a long, slow exhale after holding my breath—hopeful, peaceful, and deeply satisfying.”

  • “This story is haunting and beautiful—it stayed with me long after I put it down.”

  • “Sabir’s struggle to reconcile survival with authenticity felt like a profound victory I was rooting for from the very first page.”

  • “The symbolism was stunning—stones, the watch, the shawl—each layered with meaning that mirrored Sabir’s inner journey.”

  • “This isn’t a cliché story of ‘finding oneself.’ Sabir’s journey is about learning to truly see himself through his own eyes, and that was profoundly relatable.”

  • “Silence in this novel becomes a living theme—sometimes wounding, sometimes holding love and trust. It was powerful to experience.”

  • “The lack of a fixed sense of time gave the story a timeless quality. It could be happening today or a hundred years ago—and that universality is brilliant.”

  • “When Nura revealed she had seen Sabir drawing as a child, I got chills. She had seen him all along, even when he thought no one did.”

  • “The poetry inserts felt like moments where something deeper springs out of Sabir — like glimpses into his soul breaking through the narrative.”