The present study is a comparative feminist reading of two novels written by two different authors with rather similar backgrounds. Despite their differences, these two novels share many similarities regarding the Iraq War and trauma. The American Daughter (2008), written by Inaam Kachachi, portrays an identity crisis among Iraqi individuals who are compelled to depart their country as a result of the U.S. 2003 invasion. Helen Benedict’s Sand Queen (2011), rather similarly, records the engagement of veterans and refugees in the war in Iraq. Through the point of view of marginal(ized) groups, the storyline addresses the interplay between war, trauma, alienation, racism, and sexism. No academic study has compared these two novels focusing on the issue of the Iraq War and trauma. The aim of this paper, hence, is to fill this gap in knowledge by comparing the two novels from a socialist feminist perspective. To reach this aim, Christine Delphy’s and Nawal El Saadawi’s socialist feminism approach is applied to the novels under study. Accordingly, similarities and differences between the protagonists’ (Zeina Benham and Kate Brady) conditions are examined. In both novels, gender inequality is vital in pushing women to the edge of identity crisis as underpinned by traumatic experiences. This paper concludes that patriarchal norms and demands exercise an indelible influence on the identity of female personae in both case studies. Furthermore, it suggests that Zeina Benham and Kate Brady are double victims of war and patriarchy.

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