Description

A TIME Best Book of the Year
A New Yorker Best Book of the Year

An extraordinary novel from a Man Booker International Prize-winning author that follows one young Omani woman as she builds a life for herself in Britain and reflects on the relationships that have made her from a remarkable writer who has constructed her own novelistic form (James Wood, The New Yorker).

From Man Booker International Prize-winning author Jokha Alharthi, Bitter Orange Tree is a profound exploration of social status, wealth, desire, and female agency. It presents a mosaic portrait of one young womans attempt to understand the roots she has grown from, and to envisage an adulthood in which her own power and happiness might find the freedom necessary to bear fruit and flourish.

Zuhour, an Omani student at a British university, is caught between the past and the present. As she attempts to form friendships and assimilate in Britain, she cant help but ruminate on the relationships that have been central to her life. Most prominent is her strong emotional bond with Bint Amir, a woman she always thought of as her grandmother, who passed away just before Zuhour left the Arabian Peninsula.

As the historical narrative of Bint Amirs challenged circumstances unfurls in captivating fragments, so too does Zuhours isolated and unfulfilled present, one narrative segueing into another as time slips and dreams mingle with memories.

Author: Jokha Alharthi
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Catapult
Published: 07/11/2023
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.5lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781646222124
Language: English