Camera Obscura

As the sun to flora and fauna, the women of the small village of Dar Shams draw the community to them. Atop the hills at the distant edges of Beirut, the Druze town and its Christian neighbor Deir el-Qamar serve as the backdrop for the interwoven lives of Nour, an aspiring filmmaker with a camera always at the ready, and her two aunts, Sara, a religious elder and mystic, and Mahiba, a Christian convert. Against the shadow of civil war in Lebanon, the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and deepening religious discord between Druze communities, the novel unfolds across generations and continents. Camera Obscura follows Nour’s coming of age and her travels from village life to the big city—both Beirut and New York—always returning to the guidance of her aunts.

As she hones her skills in photography and filmmaking, Nour begins to reckon with her family, her homeland, and a world charged with political and spiritual violence. Sara, defying gender norms, emerges as a spiritual leader in the region’s Druze communities, while Mahiba, feeling a call to Christianity, leaves her Druze family to convert and takes refuge in the spiritual retreat of the village. Despite her own agnosticism, Nour remains drawn to her aunts and her community in Lebanon. Weaving these threads together, Rula Jurdi’s luminous novel traces the lives of three women pulled in different directions by social and political forces, capturing a resonant portrait of femininity, spirituality, and resistance.