After 85 years, Fatimah Abdullah is nearing the end of her life, with just nine days left until her storytelling with Scheherazade concludes on the 1,001st night. Throughout her life, Fatima has shared her stories with the immortal storyteller, knowing her time is limited. As she approaches this final night, Fatima has important tasks: finding a wife for her openly gay grandson, teaching her great-granddaughter about Arabic and birth control, reconciling with her estranged husband, and deciding which of her children should inherit her family's home in Lebanon, a place she hasn't seen in nearly 70 years. Meanwhile, two bumbling FBI agents are watching her, hoping to uncover Al Qaeda in Los Angeles. Fatima's children are preoccupied with their own lives and indifferent to her needs. Through her narratives, we encounter a diverse cast, including a visionless psychic, a conflicted soldier, a gynecologist with a troubled daughter, a Harvard-educated cab driver, a lovelorn matchmaker, and a Texas homecoming queen. Together, they form a complex tapestry of modern Arab American life, shifting between the U.S. and Lebanon over the past century. The novel is a captivating blend of humanity, imagination, and magic realism, promising to charm readers.
Alia Yunis Boeken
Deze auteur onderzoekt de ingewikkelde verbanden tussen cultuur, identiteit en plaats, en duikt vaak in thema's van ontheemding en interculturele ervaringen. Haar werk wordt gekenmerkt door een rijke, beschrijvende stijl die lezers meeneemt naar diverse omgevingen. Door haar verhalen biedt ze aangrijpende inzichten in de menselijke conditie in een geglobaliseerde wereld. Haar achtergrond in internationale journalistiek en filmproductie geeft haar schrijven authenticiteit en een wereldwijd perspectief.
