The latest addition to my website is Liana Badr‘s بوصلة من أجل عباد الشمس (Compass of the Sunflower). This was Badr’s first novel and we follow the story of a young Palestinian woman, Jinan, as various events – the 1967 war, Black September, the 1970 war and the Lebanese Civil War – which casue her and her. family to flee. Howver he family are very much involved in the struggle, Her father is imprisoned more than once, her cousin hijacks a plane and Jinan becomes very much involved in the struggle. This brings up another theme. The role of women, sometimes to the disgust of the men, is very much changing and Jinan and her female friends become far more independent and, in some cases, take up arms. One elderly lady says she would rather learn how to use a Kalashnikov than learn to read and write. But, as we know, things do not go well for the Palestinians and Jinan and her friends and family will continue to struggle.