Celestial Bodies
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Sandstone Press Ltd
Published:21st Jun '18
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Full UK marketing campaign by the Sandstone Press in-house team. WINNER: 2019 Man Booker International prize.
Celestial Bodies is a coiled spring of a novel, telling of Oman’s coming-of-age through the prism of one family’s losses and loves.
Celestial Bodies is set in the village of al-Awafi in Oman, where we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla who rejects all offers while waiting for her beloved, who has emigrated to Canada. These three women and their families witness Oman evolve from a traditional, slave-owning society slowly redefining itself after the colonial era, to the crossroads of its complex present. Elegantly structured and taut, Celestial Bodies is a coiled spring of a novel, telling of Oman’s coming-of-age through the prism of one family’s losses and loves.
Brings a distinctive and important new voice to world literature.
* The Irish Times *A richly imagined, engaging and poetic insight into a society in transition and into lives previously obscured.
* The Man Booker International Prize judges *Fascinating.
* The Guardian *Alharthi has a strong narrative gift, transporting the reader into all the intimacies of a close-knit family group.
* The Bay Magazine *It skilfully builds suspense by creating “Aha!” moments as characters come to better understand their pasts.
* The National *Finished it in a couple of sittings, addictive, compelling, informative and completely fascinating to read! Definitely recommend it, fingers crossed it appears on the short list too.
* Independent Book Reviews *A beautifully written and very moving story.
* Twitter *‘Compelling...’
* Women In Translation *Blends the rhythms of daily life with magic and legend.
Delivers the reader immediately into the world of the marginal, forgotten, most subaltern sectors of society.
This novel is interesting as a lens through which to view an important time in the transition of Omani society.
* The Wee Revi- Winner of The Man Booker International Prize 2019
ISBN: 9781912240166
Dimensions: 196mm x 130mm x 15mm
Weight: 186g
320 pages