Diary of a Wave Outside the SeaMikhail writes: "Death always looks for us. It comes from beyond the continents. It crosses long distances holding a basket of fire in its hand." The two halves of Mikhail's book merge past and present in a lyrical memoir that moves between memories of her childhood, her father's death, her Iraqi poet peers and friends, her job as a journalist for the Baghdad Observer, and culminates with the birth of her daughter Larsa.