This novel of home and homelessness, of exile both physical and psychological, centers on Kimi, a fragile heroine unable to distinguish between her own pain and the pain of others. Kimi is a young Arab student going to Ireland for an education. In Leaves of Narcissus, Somaya Ramadan interlaces literary motifs—from the popular to the learned, from the folk to the mythic, from the Egyptian to the Irish—and poses questions that hold a mirror to our selves.