The new novel from the award-winning author of Guapa; and a sweeping, multi-generational saga that traces the fractured bonds between three Iraqi-British sisters

In the summer of 2014, three estranged Iraqi-British sisters are drawn back into each other's orbits through the discovery of their late father's lost paintings.

As Mediha, Zainab, and Ishtar lay claim to his legacy—an inheritance laced with exile, betrayal, and an Iraq they no longer recognise—Zainab's son Nizar, a war correspondent haunted by his time on the front lines, returns to the family fold. As summer bleeds into autumn and the truth about the paintings unfurls, the family is forced to confront the personal and political betrayals that tore them apart.

Spanning continents and decades, Floodlines grapples with grief and memory, and charts the emotional and political aftershocks of a century of war and revolution in Iraq and beyond. Inspired by the artistic legacy of Haddad's great uncle, the Iraqi modernist painter Jewad Selim, Floodlines explores family, queerness, and the wounds of (neo)colonialism in haunting, visceral prose.

"A literary voice capable of narrating untold stories of the modern gay experience, from one of the most complicated parts of the world."—Attitude Magazine



"FLOODLINES is a haunting, incandescent novel. With fierce tenderness and astonishing power, Haddad confirms himself as one of our most vital storyteller."



"A sophisticated exploration of inheritance, identity, and the politics of intimacy."



"Haddad's writing is a searing meditation on hope. FLOODLINES is beautifully crafted, and breathtaking in scope and reach. It is a book that mourns Iraq and all the senseless violence its people and lands have been subjected to, while celebrating its art, richness, and commitment to life."



"In asking what it means to make art, FLOODLINES manages to be cinematic and essayistic in the same breath. Above all, it manages to fuse the intimate subjectivity of disinheritance and displacement with unfolding history. An epic vindication."



"Haddad writes movingly about what we inherit, and places art at the heart of his exploration into how the tragedy of a country and the tragedy of a family live on the same canvas."



"Haddad has written a stunning queer history for our fractured times."



"If  Floodlines challenges the reader to think, it's also eminently readable. For once, the riverine metaphor "the prose flows", fits perfectly....humane and moving."



"A compelling, compassionate and authentic work of fiction, offering a bright light of hope despite the turbulence and trauma of the past, this is a must-read for 2026."



"A wonderful family story with compelling characters, about the richness and the power of art... A gorgeous, accomplished, finely written novel."



"A literary voice capable of narrating untold stories of the modern gay experience, from one of the most complicated parts of the world."