The following edition of the text was used in the creation of this study guide: Matar, Hisham. My Friends. Penguin Random House, 2024. Kindle AZW file.

In 2014 at King’s Cross Station, Khaled says goodbye to his old friend Hosam, who is heading to Paris, then America. Both men are Libyan and had spent many years together in London. The night before, Hosam had told Khaled about a house his father bought in California but never lived in. He urges Khaled to visit. Khaled agrees reluctantly. At the station, Hosam calls Khaled his only true friend. After he leaves, Khaled briefly considers going with Hosam to Paris, then walks away alone.

Walking home, Khaled recalls hearing Hosam’s writing on the BBC, a story that deeply moved his family. Khaled thinks about journalist Mohammed Mustafa Ramadan, likely assassinated by the regime in 1980. He visits the mosque where Ramadan was killed and imagines the man’s final hours.

In a flashback to his time as a teenager, Khaled remembers being inspired by the British essayist Henry Walbrook. Khaled had applied to study literature in the UK and enrolled at Edinburgh University where Walbrook taught. In Edinburgh, Khaled befriended Mustafa, another Libyan, and Rana, a Lebanese student. Wary of regime informants, he self-censored letters home, knowing they would be read by the regime. He took a class with Walbrook, and they discussed Libya over drinks. After news of arrests back home, Mustafa told Khaled about an upcoming protest in London.

Khaled and Mustafa traveled to London, spent a night out, and joined the protest outside the Libyan embassy with their faces covered. Khaled noticed arguments inside the building and tried to leave. Suddenly, shots rang out. Khaled was hit and lost consciousness. When he woke up, he learned Mustafa and a police officer were also wounded. He fled the scene, collapsed nearby, and was helped into an ambulance, refusing to give his name. His lung was injured by a bullet. Eleven protestors were shot, and police officer Yvonne Fletcher was killed. Khaled and others were hospitalized under guard. Hosam, who had been scheduled to speak on the radio, stayed silent, which Khaled and Mustafa interpreted as fear. A nurse gave Khaled a copy of Hosam’s book of short stories, which he and Mustafa read in the hospital.

An older Libyan man visited the hospital and brought them clothes and money. Police reassured them that he had been vetted before being allowed to visit. Though suspicious, Khaled accepted. After six weeks, Mustafa left for Manchester. Rana offered Khaled the use of her family’s flat in London and gave him a note from Walbrook offering help. Khaled made a careful phone call home, in which he lied about what had happened to him, then chose not to call again to protect his family. At a follow-up medical check, he asked the doctors to alter the stated cause of his injuries, but they said anyone who saw his medical records would be able to tell he had been shot. Rana brought his belongings from Edinburgh. Scotland Yard warned him to stay alert.

Khaled later approached Walbrook for help. Walbrook gave him a loan and references, and Khaled moved into a flat where he would live for the next 30 years. He found a job in a clothing store. That summer, he joined Rana, and others on a trip to Spain. He grew close to Seham, a Palestinian woman. In Spain, he swam in a shirt to hide his scar. Rana convinced him to remove it, but her reaction of obvious distress and concern at the extent of his injuries made him vow never to show it again.

Back in London, Walbrook encouraged Khaled to resume his studies. He said Mustafa had called him, looking for Khaled. Reconnecting with Mustafa, the two agreed to stay in the UK, hoping for Qaddafi’s fall. With Walbrook’s help, Khaled enrolled at Birkbeck to study literature. He started dating Hannah and found relief in telling her the full truth about the shooting for the first time. After graduation, Khaled became a teacher. He ran into his uncle Osama who was visiting the UK and confessed that he was unable to return to Libya, although he did not tell the true story of why. Osama was sympathetic. Mustafa joined a Libyan opposition group, but Khaled declined to participate. At a funeral for a member of the opposition who was suspected of being poisoned, Khaled saw the older Libyan man who had helped the victims of the embassy shooting. Two years later, the older man was kidnapped and killed in Libya, and the group began to fall apart. Mustafa left the group and became an estate agent. Both Khaled and Mustafa gradually adapted to British life.

In 1992, Khaled’s family visited for the first time in nine years. He shared a powerful moment with his father, showing him the scar and explaining what had happened. His father wept and asked him not to tell his mother. Khaled once again regretted having been honest about his suffering because it had hurt someone he loved. After they left, Khaled described the visit to Hannah, who was upset not to have met them. She accused him of being emotionally distant and urged him to commit fully.

In 1995, Rana asked Khaled to support her in Paris as she underwent brain surgery. At his hotel, Khaled met a man who later revealed himself to be Hosam Zowa: the writer whose short story had once inspired him. They bonded over shared experiences. Hosam confessed he had also been at the embassy protest but had escaped unharmed. He later moved into the flat below Khaled’s in London and the two became close friends. Hosam reconnected with his ex Claire, and the three men – Khaled, Hosam, and Mustafa – began meeting weekly. Hosam grew obsessed with the assassination of Ramadan and took Khaled on tours of sites of political assassinations in London. At the National Gallery, Khaled met Claire and was moved by a Memling painting. She mentioned Hosam had recently had a breakdown in Devon. Hosam described a dream of being unable to carry home a writing desk. Later, Mustafa showed Khaled a video of Hosam’s father being forced to denounce him on state television in the 1980s that had recently been posted to YouTube. Khaled assumed this footage was what caused Hosam’s breakdown.

Three months before Libya’s 2011 revolution, Khaled attended a concert with Hosam and Claire. Hosam said he might return to Libya to see his father, who had suffered a stroke. As revolutions spread across North Africa, Mustafa grew excited. Hosam remained distant. Khaled felt torn. On February 17, Benghazi’s army joined the uprising. Mustafa returned to Libya to fight and urged Khaled to join him. Instead, Khaled drove him to the airport and felt lonely afterward.

Hosam sent long emails discouraging Khaled from fighting but encouraged him to visit. Khaled did neither, instead following the revolution obsessively online. He sent Mustafa satellite phones. Hosam, inspired by his new love Malak, eventually joined the fighting as well. Khaled rekindled his relationship with Hannah, who was now divorced with two children. He grew close to her kids. Mustafa called to say he and Hosam were fighting together, which made Khaled feel abandoned. He nearly confessed his the depth of his feelings to Hannah but was interrupted by her daughter and did not try again.

Hosam wrote that he and Mustafa had helped capture General Qaddafi, who was now dead. Hosam joined the transitional government, while Mustafa kept fighting. Khaled translated Hosam’s stories and Hosam attended the book launch, where Hosam revealed Khaled’s family home and father’s library had been destroyed. He urged Khaled to visit Libya, but Khaled remained in London.

After seeing Hosam off at the train station in 2014, Khaled returns to his flat, alone.