Bandar Shāh

by al-Ṭayyib Ṣāliḥ

This long-awaited new book by the acclaimed Sudanese author Tayeb Salih is an evocative masterpiece. Consisting of two volumes originally entitled Dau al-Beit and Meryoud, it tells the story of a green-eyed stranger who, wounded and hungry, appears on the banks of the river near the village of Wad Hamid, this work recounts the life of a man who cannot remember his name, race, nor religion, and speaks a language no one understands. The villagers take him in, teach him the Koran, and give him a name, Dau al-Beit. Restored to strength, Dau al-Beit transforms the lives of the people who cared...