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A Small Box In The Heart, Ibtihal Salem, Caroline Seymour-Jorn

French, Italian and Comparative Literature Faculty Books

From the enchanted confines of her Turkish grandmother’s home, Maryam Abdel Fatah recollects the phases of her life, growing up in the tumultuous environment of Egypt in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Although the historical time frame of the novel takes us back some decades before the Egyptian revolution of 2011, it speaks to many of the issues and concerns that brought about that revolt—and indeed—to some of the broader concerns underlying the so-called Arab Spring. The story of Maryam’s young life details the tragic impact upon individuals of the lack of personal and political freedoms, and of an …

Flying Carpets, Hedy Habra

Hedy Habra

Surveying what appears as familiar ground, Hedy Habra's Flying Carpets plunge deep into the bygone and the irrecoverable. Steeped in childhood memories of Egypt and Lebanon, and intensified in the act of fictional recollection, Habra's stories are at once joyous and tragic, witty and profound. In Habra we have a Shehrazad of our times, not one trying to save her life, but one intent to bring enchantment, gravitas, and sensitivity to ours. This is a book full of marvels, beautifully written. --Khaled Mattawa, author of Amorisco and Tocqueville

Hedy Habra's Flying Carpets is a collection of enchantments and wonders charmingly …

Review Of The Calligrapher’S Secret By Rafik Schami, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould