Smiling man with a beard and mustache wearing a black cap and dark jacket inside a restaurant or cafe with chairs, tables, and modern lighting fixtures.

I’m Amer, a writer exploring love, memory, and the quiet work of healing. My debut novel, Shards of Belonging, is a lyrical story of return, redemption, and the courage to stay.

As a personal gift from me to you, you can download my latest book of poems for free

Early Reader Feedback of Shards of Belonging

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

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

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

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

  • “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.”

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

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

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

  • “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.”

The Story Behind Shards of Belonging: How a Poem Sparked a Novel About Truth and Belonging

Every novel begins somewhere — not with polished pages, but with a moment. For me, it began in the middle of a life that looked fine from the outside but felt heavy on the inside. I kept asking myself the same quiet question: what would it take to finally live my truth and feel at home in myself?

If you’ve ever wondered whether being yourself was ‘too much’ or ‘not enough,’ this story may sound familiar. Out of that question came Shards of Belonging — my first novel, and perhaps the most personal thing I’ve ever written.

This is the journey of how it came to be — and why I hope it might matter to you.

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