The latest addition to my website is Jabra Ibrahim Jabra‘s البحث البحث عن وليد مسعودد (In Search of Walid Masoud). Walid Masoiud is a Palestinian who fought for Palestine after the Nakba but has since moved ro Baghdad, where he has become a banker, a womaniser and an author, though still a supporter of the … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Yahya Yakhlif‘s رة وراء الريح، (A Lake Beyond the Wind). The novel is set in Samakh in 1948. Samakh had been an important stop on the Jezreel Valley railway and Hejaz railway but after the events of this novel became depopulated. As we know from the link, the … Read more
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 … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Laila al-Atrash‘s :مرأة للفصول الخمسة، (A Woman of Five Seasons). The novel is set in Barquais, a fictitious country, clearly based on one of the Gulf states (to which many Palestinians emigrated after the Nakba). There is no mention in the text of any real Arab country, including … Read more
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
Every year around this time,I read only books from one country. I have a couple of countries which have been in the queue for a couple of years but circumstances have caused them to be delayed. Two years ago it was our travel to Norway that turned me to that country. Last year it was … 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 Hugh Lupton‘s The Ballad of John Clare. Hugh Lupton is a professional story-teller and, in his only novel, tells the tale of one year (1811-1812) in the life of nature poet John Clare. Clare came from a poor agricultural labouring background and we see him doing a variety … Read more
In previous years, I have bemoaned the year just finishing and expressed the hope for better things to come the following year. Not this time. Next year will be worse and you do not need me to tell you why. Did you know that forty countries are having elections next year, including Russia, India, the … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Haji Jabir‘s ة سوداء، (Black Foam). Dawoud, one of four names he uses in this book, is an Eritrean. We follow his life as he flees Eritrea, where he has been imprisoned for abandoning his army training to be with his girlfriend, as he escapes to Ethiopia, cheats … Read more