Book Club - The Kiss of Saddam, a biography of Selma Masson by Michelle McDonald

A few weeks ago I was in the car listening to the radio as I usually do when out and about. I love The Converstaion Hour on ABC (Australia) and on this particular morning Richard Fidler was interviewing two women.

Selma Masson, now an Australian citizen, was born in Iraq. After many turbulent events in her life, Selma embraced Australia as a place of refuge for herself and her husband Mohammad. Mohammad was an Iraqi diplomat who fell foul of Saddam Hussein, was jailed for two years, and eventually released, but not before Selma personally begged Saddam for her husband’s freedom.

Selma’s story has been told in collaboration with Michelle McDonald who became a close friend of Selma’s after her arrival in Australia. Michelle, who has helped refugees for some years, has written a thoughtful account of Selma’s amazing life called The Kiss of Saddam. As is often the case, I had annoyingly reached my destination before The Conversation Hour was finished and so missed the end of Selma’s story. I just had to buy the book and read it for myself.

It’s the first refugee story I’ve read and it has opened my eyes to just a fraction of what families must endure when their world is destroyed by circumstances out of their control. How do you pick up what pieces you can, relocate to another country and continue living a positive and caring life - one not consumed by hate and regret but still full of potential and promise?

Selma and Mohammad arrived in Australia at an age when most couples are settling down for retirement. Mohammad, however, returned to university - he now practises immigration law - and Selma has become totally immersed in community education.

It’s appropriate, with Mother’s Day coming up, to place the sentiments of the day into a real life context. Selma’s elderly mother, daughter and grandchildren still live in the Middle East. The chasm that separates them, forged by events that have totally fractured their lives, is something I will think about this Sunday.

Listen to The Conversation Hour to hear Selma talk about her amazing life.

Buy The Kiss of Saddam to read the heartbreaking and yet uplifting account of a Selma’s struggle to keep her family, if not together, then at least alive.

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