Fiction

The Father, the Son and the pyjama-wearing Spirit

The Father, the Son and the pyjama-wearing Spirit

Dominic Garcin

There is something extraordinary about Cambridge philosophy student Gian Paolo Friedrich. From the strange visions that people have in his presence, to his uncanny ability to touch the hearts of total strangers, Gian Paolo is not like other people. Unnervingly enigmatic, he claims to be ‘newer’; to experience feelings that nobody else has ever felt before. Is he a superior being, or is he psychotic?

Black Chalk an novel by Albert Alla

Black Chalk

Albert Alla

In the Oxfordshire countryside, a student walks into a classroom and starts shooting. Nate, friends with shooter and victims alike, is the only surviving witness. Easily led and eager to please, his recollections weave around others' hopes and expectations, until he loses track of what really happened that day.

Lauded as a hero, Nate is unable to reconcile his public profile with what he knows really happened.

The Experiment - a novel by Myrto Azina Chronidi

The Experiment

Myrto Azina Chronidi

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 characters undertake to write a play together, as an experiment, to see if they can succeed where others have failed, in achieving true collaboration and union through their writing. They come up with the story and the plot together; she writes the female character, he the male.

The Almond Tree

The Almond Tree

Michelle Cohen Corasanti

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 his friends and family. Living on occupied land, his entire village operates in constant fear of losing their homes, jobs, and belongings. But more importantly, they fear losing each other.

The Last Chapter, An Iranian Love Story, by Guita Garakani

The Last Chapter

An Iranian Love Story Guita Garakani

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 his father’s murder, and no one looked into Youssef’s death either, which was perhaps for the best. The saga of Vaqar and his son had drawn to a close with the second murder.

The Knot in the Rug a novel from Iran by Masoud Behnoud

The Knot in the Rug

Masoud Behnoud

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 readership rarely glimpses.

The book’s heroine, Khanoum, is born in the courts of Persia’s Qajar dynasty. The twists and turns in Khanoum’s life make for a gripping read, whilst at the same time shedding light on traditional Persian customs of birth, marriage and death, still followed in modern-day Iran.

A Land without Jasmine a novel from Middle East - Yemen

A Land without Jasmine

Wajdi al-Ahdal

An intriguing fiction from Yemen: A Land without Jasmine is a sexy, satirical detective story about the sudden disappearance of a young female student from Yemen’s Sanaa University. Each chapter is narrated by a different character beginning with Jasmine herself. The mystery surrounding her disappearance comes into clearer focus with each self-serving and idiosyncratic account provided by an acquaintance, family member, or detective.

I am Cyrus  The story of the real Prince of Persia

I am Cyrus

The story of the real Prince of Persia Alexander Jovy

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 the life and times of Cyrus himself, a magnificent leader whose passion won the hearts of his subjects and of two extraordinary women –  the wildly beautiful warrior Roshan and the exquisite Cassadane.

Professor Hanaa by Reem Bassiouney

Professor Hanaa

Reem Bassiouney

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

The Day it Rained Bricks and Bats

The Day it Rained Bricks and Bats

And other tales from the Gulf Maruf Khawaja

‘In England, where Madame Tussaud virtually reinvented the queue, it is a national avocation and an integral part of the English gene. English people queue at the drop of a hat. They will form queues to get into queues. It is not what you are queuing for . . . it is how you do it.’ No doubt a description of ourselves that we are all familiar with, yet we must leave it to Maruf Khawaja to explain the slight spin put on the ‘oh so British’ pursuit of queueing by the inhabitants of the UAE!