Ḥikāyat Zahrah

Ḥanān Shaykh

"Considered by many to be the Arab world's leading female novelist, Hanan al-Shaykh's reputation has just begun to blossom in this country. The publication last year of Women of Sand and Myrrh - her first novel to be published in the U.S. - was greeted with widespread excitement. Now comes the haunting and erotically charged The Story of Zahra, which, because of its courageous and frank treatment of personal, sexual, and political themes, remains, fourteen years after its original publication, banned in several Arab countries. This vividly imagined and gripping portrayal of a contemporary woman's life in war-torn Beirut is certain to considerably expand her readership here in the U.S." "Zahra, a child of the Shia community in South Lebanon, is haunted by dark memories of deception and abuse by her parents. She flees her family and takes refuge with an uncle who is in political exile...

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