A window into a world most people see depicted only in seconds-long news reports, one that we all should look through in order to recognize the genuine humanity within.
Asad lives in Gaza, in a tiny house, on a narrow street pocked by half-destroyed buildings, in a camp that looks shabby to him and feels claustrophobic. He walks virtually the same route every day to his summer job at a printing press, passing the prison that holds his father, for reasons that have not been fully explained to him. As the oldest son, he feels the weight of responsibility for his seven brothers, his sisters, and his Ummi, who wants him to study hard and excel in school, as all mothers do. Moody and reserved Asad has few friends, and fewer distractions. Thank goodness for Um Fawzi, a feisty, cigarette-smoking old woman, who's the only one who seems willing to tell it like it is, sharply enough, and with a biting sense of humor that snaps him out of his fog sometimes. There's also Houriya, a lovely and smart girl, who brings him books to read and sometimes prompts him to think about a future that he can't truly imagine. There seems to be no escaping. But Asad has a secret, too, a mysterious black bag that holds something important that he keeps hidden from everyone.
This rare novel by and about Palestinians showcases this boy whose life is never easy, even as it's filled with the longing, the bruised hopes, and the frustrations of any seventeen-year-old.
Translated by Sawad Hussain, who was a Princeton translator in residence and has won numerous awards for her work.
Najlaa Attaallah is a Palestinian author, architect, and activist, born in Gaza City in 1987. She holds a BA in architectural engineering and an MA in engineering project management from the Islamic University of Gaza. Her commitment to gender equality led her to move to Iceland, where she pursued further studies in gender and human rights at the University of Iceland. She now lives in Reykjavík with her family. In addition to her work as an architect, Najlaa runs Gaza Company, a small social enterprise that supports vulnerable women in Gaza. Her diaries from the 2014 war on Gaza--as well as a number of short stories and articles--have been translated into multiple languages and published on various international platforms. Her book Al-Soura, written for adolescents, was selected as one of the top 101 books in the Arab region by an exhibition organized by the Children's Literature Programme of the Anna Lindh Foundation.
Sawad Hussain graduated with an MA in modern Arabic literature from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. She was the previous cochair of Translators' Association in the United Kingdom and is committed to mentoring emerging translators. Her accolades include being shortlisted by the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation and the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation on multiple occasions, receiving several English PEN Translates grants, being longlisted by the Christopher G. Moore Foundation prize for Human Rights writing, and being selected as a finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature. She was recently translator-in-residence at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies and now lives in Cambridge, England.
