Velvet
A Novel
Published on 20. August 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-977-416-930-4 (ISBN)
Description
Hawa is a child of the grinding hardship of a Palestinian refugee camp. She has had to survive the camp itself, as well as the humiliation and destruction of an abusive family life. But now, later in life, something most unexpected has happened: she has fallen in love.
Velvet unfolds over a day in Hawa's life, as she makes plans for a new beginning that may take her out of the camp. She sifts back through her memories of the past: the stories of her family, her childhood, and her beloved mentor, who invited her into the glamorous world of the rich women of Amman.
This is a novel of enormous power and great beauty. Rich in detail, it tells of the women of the camp, and the joy and relief that can be captured amid repression and sorrow.
Velvet unfolds over a day in Hawa's life, as she makes plans for a new beginning that may take her out of the camp. She sifts back through her memories of the past: the stories of her family, her childhood, and her beloved mentor, who invited her into the glamorous world of the rich women of Amman.
This is a novel of enormous power and great beauty. Rich in detail, it tells of the women of the camp, and the joy and relief that can be captured amid repression and sorrow.
Reviews / Votes
"This is a deeply human book. . . . a masterwork."-Omar El Akkad, LitHub"Huzama Habayeb's novel is an intense and vivid story of one woman's life in a Palestinian refugee camp, told with sensitivity to the sensuous but tragic world of its heroine but above all to her almost heroic defiance of reality. On one level, the novel is a study of the claustrophobia of poverty and oppression, of daily lives shorn of all tenderness, and of the stranglehold of family and patriarchy. Throughout it all, however, there remain dreams of individual fulfilment and the possibility of love and escape, turning the novel into a celebration of the triumph of the imagination over the mundane. The richness of the Arabic original is captured by Kay Heikkinen in a translation that faithfully adheres to its elegance without undue artifice and without losing the deeply tragic tenor of its events." -Judges' comments, Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize
"As sensuous, smooth, and strong as the fabric that gives the novel its title." -Humphrey Davies, translator of The Yacoubian Building
"Every moment in this book is so fully lived as to be magnetic...the novel should not be missed, in Arabic or in English, for its sentences crammed to the brim with life in a refugee camp, for its sophisticated picking apart of narrative tropes about motherhood and social mobility, and for the rollercoaster-like pleasure of Hawwa's ups and downs."-M. Lynx Qualey, Words Without Borders
"An original voice who brings vividly to life Palestinian camps with extraordinary beauty and lyricism."-Tahia Abdel Nasser, The American University in Cairo
"Passionate....bursting with sensory detail."-The National
"Rich in language and metaphor"-The New Arab
"Gives shape to a story of defiance and resilience"-Middle East Monitor
"Extraordinarily vivid. . . .This is a tale of women and men broken by refugee life, and the fate of those few who dare to persist in searching for happiness. . . . Human misery permeates the novel, but that doesn't keep one from frantically turning the pages to follow the compelling story of Hawwa - an extremely memorable character."-The Jordan Times
"Intensely poignant. . . . Depicting the highs and lows of modern womanhood, as well as the special strength that comes from an arduous life, Habayeb weaves a heart-wrenching story that springs from the sorrow of a young girl. Hawwa searches for meaning in the love and grief that surround her. Through the years, we witness Hawwa's quiet strength persevere as she tries to stitch her family's life back together. Equal parts touching and tragic, this novel gives an intimate view of love and loss inside of a tumultuous world."-AramcoWorld
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cairo
Egypt
Publishing group
The American University in Cairo Press
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
272 gr
ISBN-13
978-977-416-930-4 (9789774169304)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Huzama Habayeb is a Palestinian writer who was born and raised in Kuwait, where she started writing and publishing short stories, poetry, and journalistic pieces as a student. When the Gulf War erupted in 1990, she fled to Jordan and established her reputation as a short-story writer. Her first novel, Root of Passion, was published in 2007 to wide critical acclaim. Velvet is her third novel.
Kay Heikkinen is a translator and academic who holds a PhD from Harvard University and is currently Ibn Rushd Lecturer of Arabic at the University of Chicago. Among other books, she has translated Naguib Mahfouz's In the Time of Love and Radwa Ashour's The Woman From Tantoura.
Kay Heikkinen is a translator and academic who holds a PhD from Harvard University and is currently Ibn Rushd Lecturer of Arabic at the University of Chicago. Among other books, she has translated Naguib Mahfouz's In the Time of Love and Radwa Ashour's The Woman From Tantoura.