The Locust and the Bird
My Mother's Story
Published on 25. August 2009
320 pages
978-0-307-37836-1 (ISBN)
Description
In a masterly act of literary transformation, celebrated novelist Hanan al-Shaykh re-creates the dramatic life and times of her mother, Kamila.
Married at a young age against her will, Kamila soon fell head-over-heels in love with another man-and was thus forced to choose between her children and her lover. As the narrative unfolds through the years-from the bazaars, cinemas and apartments of 1930s Beirut to its war-torn streets decades later-we follow this passionate woman as she survives the tragedies and celebrates the triumphs of a life lived to the very fullest.
Married at a young age against her will, Kamila soon fell head-over-heels in love with another man-and was thus forced to choose between her children and her lover. As the narrative unfolds through the years-from the bazaars, cinemas and apartments of 1930s Beirut to its war-torn streets decades later-we follow this passionate woman as she survives the tragedies and celebrates the triumphs of a life lived to the very fullest.
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04/2010
Random House Inc
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08/2009
Pantheon Books
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Person
Hanan al-Shaykh is one of the contemporary Arab world's most acclaimed writers. She was born in Lebanon and brought up in Beirut, before going to Cairo to receive her education. She was a successful journalist in Beirut, then later lived in the Arabian Gulf, before moving to London. A novelist and a playwright, al-Shaykh is the author of the collection I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops, and the novels The Story of Zahra, Women of Sand and Myrrh, Beirut Blues, and, most recently, Only in London, which was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. She lives in London.
Content
- Intro
- Other Books By This Author
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Dramatis Personae
- Prologue
- Chapter 1 - 1932: Ever Since I Can Remember
- Chapter 2 - Door of Secrets
- Chapter 3 - 1934: Beirut
- Chapter 4 - Even Pigeons Go to School
- Chapter 5 - The White Rose
- Chapter 6 - Stone-Bearing Donkeys
- Chapter 7 - 'You Are Hereby My Witness'
- Chapter 8 - A Single Drop of Blood
- Chapter 9 - Escape into a Trap
- Chapter 10 - How I Came to Be Married: to Mr Watch-out-or-else
- Chapter 11 - Snake Pit
- Chapter 12 - Fatima
- Chapter 13 - Nadia's Nightclub
- Chapter 14 - 'Good God . You Could Sew: a Dress for a Flea'
- Chapter 15 - The Gallant of the Night
- Chapter 16 - Clang, Clang, Clang . Gotcha, Gotcha, Gotcha!
- Chapter 17 - Love's First Signs
- Chapter 18 - 'You Cry So You Can Go to the Cinema: and Then You Come Home Crying!'
- Chapter 19 - The Camel Howdah
- Chapter 20 - How I Came to Call My: Second Baby Hanan
- Chapter 21 - The Lady and Ibrahim
- Chapter 22 - The Walnut Tree Knows Everything
- Chapter 23 - Four Years or Four Seconds
- Chapter 24 - 'You Lead Her This Way and That . Do You: Expect Me to Resole Her Shoes Every Day?'
- Chapter 25 - His Indifference Sucks up My Desires
- His Desires Suck up My Very Blood
- Chapter 26 - Silk Valley
- Chapter 27 - There's No More Money: in My Husband's Drawer
- Chapter 28 - 'Forgive Me' - 'God Is the Forgiver'
- 'Forgive Me' - 'I Have Forgiven You'
- Chapter 29 - The Persian Carpet
- Chapter 30 - 'I'm a Member of the Family: Suffering This Misfortune'
- Chapter 31 - Monkey Shit
- Chapter 32 - My Third Daughter, Ahlam
- My First Son, Toufic
- Chapter 33 - Ra's al-Naqurah
- Chapter 34 - Two Muhammads
- Chapter 35 - The 1958 Revolution Happened: Because of Me
- Chapter 36 - Muhammad Kamal
- Chapter 37 - 'You Must Have the Wrong House'
- Chapter 38 - 'I Am Abu al-Hinn, the Tiniest of Birds. What's the Point of Shooting Me?'
- Chapter 39 - Muhammad Betrays Me
- Chapter 40 - The Money in Your Pocket is More Beautiful Than Your Heart's Desire
- Chapter 41 - 'Baba's Here, Baba's Here!'
- Chapter 42 - The Widows' Club
- Chapter 43 - The Marriage Season
- Chapter 44 - 1975
- Chapter 45 - Battuta's Daughter
- Chapter 46 - The War Has Ended
- Chapter 47 - 'One Stone Takes You Away, Another Brings You Back'
- Chapter 48 - 'It's Not That, Is It?'
- Chapter 49 - Life's Journey
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- A Note on the Author
- Copyright
