Absent a novel

Khuḍayrī, Batūl. (Author). Jamil, Muhayman. (Added Author).

Summary: Dalal is a young woman living in a crowded Baghdad apartment with the childless aunt and uncle who raised her. In the same building, Umm Mazin, a fortune-teller, offers her customers cures for their physical and romantic ailments, Saad the hairdresser attends to a dwindling number of female customers, and Ilham, a nurse, escapes the stark realities of her hospital job in dreams of her long-lost French mother. Despite the damaging effects of bombings and international sanctions on their world, all the residents try to maintain normal lives. Hoping to bring in much-needed cash by selling honey, Dalal's uncle becomes a beekeeper, enlisting Dalal's help in the care of these temperamental creatures. Meanwhile, Dalal falls in love for the first time -- against a background of surprise arrests, personal betrayals, and a crumbling social fabric that turns neighbors into informants.

Record details

ISBN: 9781588366368 (electronic bk. : Adobe Reader)
ISBN: 1588366367 (electronic bk. : Adobe Reader)
ISBN: 9781588366368 (electronic bk. : Mobipocket Reader)
ISBN: 1588366367 (electronic bk. : Mobipocket Reader)
Physical Description: electronic resource
remote
ix, 221 p. ; 21 cm.
Edition: Random House trade pbk. ed.
Publisher: New York : Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007.

Content descriptions

General Note:	Includes a reader's guide. "Originally published in Arabic as Ghayib in 2004. This English translation was published by the American University in Cairo Press in 2005"--T.p. verso.
Reproduction Note:	Electronic reproduction. New York : Random House Pub. Group, 2007. Requires Adobe Digital Editions (file size: 844 KB) or Mobipocket Reader (file size: 278 KB).