The Story of Zahra: A Novel
Author(s): Hanan al-Shaykh (Author)
- Publisher: Anchor
- Publication Date: Dec 15 1996
- Language: English
- Print length: 224 pages
- ISBN-10: 0385472064
- ISBN-13: 9780385472067
Book Description
Zahra’s mother uses her as a cover for her meetings with a lover; Zahra’s strict father mistreats her for being complicit in her mother’s affair. Fleeing from Beirut in search of solace, Zahra stays with her uncle in West Africa—and then uses marriage as another kind of escape. Back in Beirut, love finally comes to her, but with terrible consequences. Banned in several Middle Eastern countries since its original publication, The Story of Zahra is an intoxicating, provocative story of a young woman’s coming of age in a city torn apart by war.
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This harsh 1986 novel traces several years in the life of Zahra, who attempts to escape her brutal existence in Lebanon by visiting an uncle in South Africa. When that venture proves equally empty, she returns to war-torn Beirut in hopes of finally finding inner peace.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
“The Story Of Zahra is a classic by any standards.”–Village Voice Literary Supplement.
“This rich tale mesmerizes with its frank sexuality and scenes of war-torn Beirut.”–
Publishers Weekly.
From the Publisher
With more than 21,000 copies in print of Women Of Sand And Myrrh, and more than 15,000 copies of The Story Of Zahra, Hanan al-Shaykh is the best known and most admired woman writer of the Arab world. The paperback publication of Zahra will bring this passionate and courageous novel to a much larger group of readers. Its haunting story of a young Lebanese woman who attempts to stem the violence in Beirut by initiating a sexual liaison with a sniper has “lifted the corner of a dark curtain” (Sunday Telegraph ) from a world that fascinates us all.
“The Story Of Zahra is a classic by any standards.”–Village Voice Literary Supplement.
“This rich tale mesmerizes with its frank sexuality and scenes of war-torn Beirut.”–Publishers Weekly.
From the Inside Flap
With more than 21,000 copies in print of Women Of Sand And Myrrh, and more than 15,000 copies of The Story Of Zahra, Hanan al-Shaykh is the best known and most admired woman writer of the Arab world. The paperback publication of Zahra will bring this passionate and courageous novel to a much larger group of readers. Its haunting story of a young Lebanese woman who attempts to stem the violence in Beirut by initiating a sexual liaison with a sniper has “lifted the corner of a dark curtain” (Sunday Telegraph ) from a world that fascinates us all.
From the Back Cover
an 21,000 copies in print of Women Of Sand And Myrrh, and more than 15,000 copies of The Story Of Zahra, Hanan al-Shaykh is the best known and most admired woman writer of the Arab world. The paperback publication of Zahra will bring this passionate and courageous novel to a much larger group of readers. Its haunting story of a young Lebanese woman who attempts to stem the violence in Beirut by initiating a sexual liaison with a sniper has “lifted the corner of a dark curtain” (Sunday Telegraph ) from a world that fascinates us all.
About the Author
Hanan al-Shaykh, an award-winning journalist, novelist, and playwright, is the author of the short story collection I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops; the novels The Story of Zahra, Women of Sand and Myrrh, Beirut Blues, and Only in London; and a memoir about her mother, The Locust and the Bird. She was raised in Beirut, educated in Cairo, and lives in London.
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