The Great Below

A journey into loss

Maddy’s husband, the poet Michael Donaghy, died suddenly at the age of fifty, leaving her to bring up their young son alone. After the shock of...

Sins and Innocents

My past was behind a curtain. I had to go to Feruzeh. I had to see her so I could open the curtain of both the future and the past. Two young...

The Almond Tree

Gifted with a mind that continues to impress the elders in his village, Ichmad Hamid struggles with the knowledge that he can do nothing to save...

Madmen at the Helm

Pathology and Politics in the Arab Spring

‘No, no one against us. Against me, for what? … They love me, all my people with me, they love me all. They will die to protect me, my people.’...

Black Chalk

In the Oxfordshire countryside, a student walks into a classroom and starts shooting. Nate, friends with shooter and victims alike, is the only...

Prophet Muhammad

The First Sufi of Islam

‘Amidst the hurricanes of global violence, this book is intended as an offering of peace for a better understanding between Muslims and...

The Last Chapter

An Iranian Love Story

Youssef, Vaqar’s eldest son, died in the same house he was born in; the very house that became his after his father’s murder. No one looked into...

Becoming Plural

A Tale of Two Sudans

In July 2011, Sudan officially ‘became plural’, as the country split in two; the unofficial north-south divide between the Arab-dominated north...

The Experiment

Winner of the European Union Prize for Literature 2010 The Experiment can be described as ‘a study of erotic love and the soul’. The two main...

The Knot in the Rug

The Knot in the Rug encapsulates the massive upheavals of the first half of twentieth century from a point of view that the English-speaking...

Tearing up the Silk Road

A modern journey from China to Istanbul, through Central Asia, Iran and the Caucasus

Tearing up the Silk Road is an irreverent travelogue that details a journey along the ancient trade routes from China to Istanbul, through Central...

A Land without Jasmine

Joint winner of the 2013 Saif Ghobash Banipal Arabic Literary Translation Prize An intriguing fiction from Yemen: A Land without Jasmine is a...

The Art and Architecture of Ottoman Istanbul

This beautiful book allows the reader to appreciate the complexities and subtleties of Ottoman art and architecture as a whole, while...

Hammaming in the Sham

A Journey through the Turkish Baths of Damascus, Aleppo and Beyond

Legend has it that Damascus once had 365 hammams or ‘Turkish baths’: one for each day of the year. Originally part of an ancient Roman tradition,...

Simply Lebanese

Ina’am Atalla introduces us to the exotic flavors and colors of Lebanese cuisine using an abundance of wholesome ingredients, combined with fresh...

Years of Resistance

The Mandate of Emile Lahood, the Former President of Lebanon

Émile Lahood served in various positions in the Lebanese military, holding the title of commander-in-chief of the army for almost ten years. In...

Weeds don't Perish

Memoirs of a Defiant Old Woman

Weeds don’t Perish is the story of Hanna Braun; a passionate, wry, rebellious woman with a zest for life, that throws a new light on the...

Professor Hanaa

‘Today she must lose her virginity, mark five hundred papers, slap Samy soundly, then smash Abdel Hamid’s head with a hammer.’ On the eve of her...

I am Cyrus

The story of the real Prince of Persia

This stunning novel brings to life the enthralling world of Cyrus the Great, the leader of Ancient Persia – the world’s first great empire – and...

Beyond Belief

Two Thousand Years of Bad Faith in the Christian Church

Who really founded Christianity? Who and what did Jesus believe himself to be? How old are Christian doctrines and where did they come from?