The Heart’s Tongue & Lost: exploring the narrative of forcibly displaced women

Abstract

This PhD comprises two parts: firstly, a creative component made up of a novel titled The Heart's Tongue, which is centered on the friendship between an asylum seeker and her solicitor. Set against the backdrop of Northern Ireland this novel offers a fresh perspective on the asylum experience and the impact of intergenerational trauma within a Northern Irish context. It explores themes of loss, displacement, and belonging from a feminist perspective, as well as the dynamics of power and solace within female friendship.

My critical thesis proposes that refugee literature is under-researched from a gendered perspective. As a result there has been limited attention given to the specific challenges and experiences refugee women face. This thesis provides an overview of refugee fiction, and carries out a close analysis of four contemporary novels to think about the representation of refugee women’s lives in a more nuanced and balanced manner.

Please note that the creative component 'The Heart's Tongue' (pp. 5-291 ) is redacted from view for 3 years and is subject to a future review decision in December 2028.

Date of Award	Dec 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Glenn Patterson (Supervisor) & Ramona Wray (Supervisor)