The latest addition to my website is Yasmin Zahran‘s A Beggar at Damascus Gate. An unnamed American, born in Beirut, visits Petra in the winter and finds in a cupboard in his room some notebooks. One notebook is in English, written by an Englishman, Alex, several others are in Arabic, written by Rayya, a Palestinian … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Vera Mutafchieva‘s Случаят Джем (The Case of Cem). After the sudden death of Mehmed II, known as Mehmed the Conqueror, his two sons vie for the throne. The elder son, Bayezid wins and his younger half-brother Cem Sultan is driven into exile. The story, narrated by a series … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Tsering Yangzom Lama‘s We Measure The Earth with Our Bodies. This is a (semi-)autobiographical novel about a family and village that flee Tibet when the Chinese take over and what happens to them. The four narrators are Lhamo, a child at the time, her younger sister Tenkyi, Lhamo’s … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Thuận‘s Chinatown : tiẻ̂u thuyé̂t (Chinatown). Our unnamed heroine spends the entire book on a Paris metro train which is held up by the investigation of a suspicious duffle bag, with her twelve-year old son asleep on her shoulder. She spends the time ruminating on her life. She … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Paulina Chiziane‘s Niketche: Uma História de Poligamia (Niketche : A Story of Polygamy; later: Fìrst Wife) . The key theme of this novel is polygamy, apparently still practised in Mozambique. Our heroine is Rami. She is married to Tony, a senior police officer and they have five children. … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Ali al-Muqri’s ‘s رواية (Hurma). It tells the story of how women are repressed in Yemen and their struggles to improve their lot. Our unnamed heroine has an older rebellious brother who soon changes and becomes a conformist when he marries. She also has an older sister who … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Mouna-Hodan Ahmed‘s Les Enfants du khat [The Children of Khat]. Asli is a twenty-twenty old Djiboutian woman. Her father, like alll too many men in Djibouti, is a serious user of khat a drug. He does not work and expects his wife to work – she sells khat- … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Adania Shibli‘s وسفر الاختفاءتفصيل ثانوي (Minor Detail). This book has been in the news recently (October 2023) as Shibli and her book were cancelled at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The book is divided into two parts. The first is set in rhe Negev Desert, close to the Egyptian … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Stella Gaitano‘s رواح إدو (Edo’s Souls).This is the story of South Sudan, with the background being the upheavals that led to South Sudan breaking away from Sudan, something that affects most of the protagonists. Edo had the misfortune to lose nine of her ten children before their first … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Sara Gallardo‘s Enero (January). The novel is set on an Argentinian farm and we follow the story of the just sixteen Nefer, the youngest of three sisters. The oldest, Porota has recently married and at the wedding, Nefer was so annoyed at Negro, to whom she is attracted, … Read more