From a young girl’s point of view, through to the mature observations of an adult woman, the lifetime of Palestine, with all its peaks and valleys of human experience
Palestine. For most of us, the word brings to mind a series of confused images and disjointed associations—massacres, refugee
camps, UN resolutions, settlements, terrorist attacks, war, occupation, checkered kuffiyehs and suicide bombers, a seemingly endless cycle of death and destruction. This novel does not shy away from such painful images, but it is first and foremost a powerful human story, following the life of a young girl from her days in the village of al-Tantoura in Palestine up to the dawn of the new century. We participate in events as they unfold, seeing them through the uneducated but sharply intelligent mind of Ruqayya, as she tries to make sense of all that has happened to her and her family. With her, we live her love of her land and of her people; we feel the repeated pain of loss, of diaspora, and of cross-generational misunderstanding; and above all, we come to know her indomitable human spirit. As we read we discover that we have become part of Ruqayya’s family, and her voice will remain with us long after we have closed the book.
About the author:
, a highly acclaimed Egyptian writer and scholar, is the author of more than fifteen books of fiction, memoir, and criticism, including Granada (AUC Press, 2008) and Specters (AUC Press, 2010). She is a recipient of the Constantine Cavafy Prize for Literature and the prestigious Owais Prize for Fiction. has taught medieval history and literature as well as Islamic civilization, and currently teaches Arabic at the University of Chicago. She is the translator of Naguib Mahfouz’s In the Time of Love (AUC Press, 2010).
