"Motherland Hotel is a startling masterpiece, a perfect existential nightmare, the portrait of a soul lost on the threshold of an ever-postponed Eden."—Alberto Manguel, author of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey: A BiographyZeberjet, the last surviving member of a once prosperous Ottoman family, is the owner of the Motherland Hotel, a run-down establishment near the railroad station. A lonely, middle-aged introvert, his simple life is structured by daily administrative t...

“Breathtaking…Riveting and profound! I adored this book!” —Ellen Marie Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan Collector“A deeply involving and important novel by a master storyteller.” —Susan Wiggs, # 1 New York Times bestselling authorINTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERIn this moving, suspenseful debut novel, three courageous women confront the complexities of ...

Driven by famine from their home in the Rif, Mohamed's family walks to Tangier in search of a better life. But things are no better there. Eight of Mohamed's siblings die of malnutrition and neglect, and one is killed by his father in a fit of rage. On moving to another province Mohamed learns how to charm and steal, and discovers the joys of drugs, sex and alcohol. Proud, insolent and afraid of no one, he returns to Tangier, where he is caught up in the violence of the 1952 independence r...

In his young life, Takeyuki has never really known hardship. The youngest son of a wealthy family, he has never had any difficulty getting anything he desired. Now, though, Takeyuki is enjoying his last month of freedom before he begins working at his father’s import company in Tokyo, and he has decided to spend that time with his brother and his sister-in-law in Cassina, a small country in the Middle East.Little does Takeyuki know that his prideful manner will soon land him in hot...

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING JESSICA CHASTAIN AND RALPH FIENNES • A haunting novel exploring the reverberations of a random accident on the lives of Moroccan Muslims and Western visitors who converge on a luxurious desert villa for a decadent weekend-long party.“Surprising and dark and excellent . . . a sinister and streamlined entertainment.”—The New York TimesNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Econo...

LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER • A spellbinding debut novel about the trailblazing Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad, who defied society’s expectations to find her voice and her destiny“A complex and beautiful rendering of [a] vanished country and its scattered people, a reminder of the power and purpose of art, and an ode to female creativity under a patriarchy that repeatedly tries to snuff it out.”—The New York Times Book Review(Editors’ Cho...

Despite her family's threat to disown her, Idil, a young Somali woman, rejects her high Bliss status to marry Sidow, a poor Boon man. Her decision transforms her life, forcing her to face harsh and sometimes even deadly consequences for her defiance of a strict tribal hierarchy. Set in the fifteen-year period before Somalia's 1991 Civil War, Idil's journey is almost too hard to bear at times. Her determination to follow her heart and to pursue love over family and convention is a story tha...

A delightful account of one woman's two-year stay in a tiny rural village in Iraq, where she assumed the dress and sheltered life of a harem woman."A most enjoyable book abouut [Muslim women]—simple, dignified, human, colorful, sad and humble as the life they lead." —Muhsin Mahdi, Jewett Professor of Arabic Literature, Harvard Unversity.A wonderful, well-written, and vastly informative ethnographic study that offers a unique insight into a part of the Middd...

It is a very romantic love story of Kirghiz girl Jamila to Daniyar, who has been wounded on the battlefield during WWII. Although she was already married to Sadyk and liked his family, she left all her traditions behind for her love.... Jamila is the story of a woman who goes against the traditional tide of her family to be with the man she loves. Chinghiz Aitmatov carries the reader across the Kazakh steppe and weaves a story of love, sadness, hope, tradition, and war. Jamilia is married ...

Finalist for the 2009 National Book Award in Fiction: a major literary debut that explores class, culture, power, and desire among the ruling and servant classes of Pakistan.Passing from the mannered drawing rooms of Pakistan’s cities to the harsh mud villages beyond, Daniyal Mueenuddin’s linked stories describe the interwoven lives of an aging feudal landowner, his servants and managers, and his extended family, industrialists who have lost touch with the land. In the spirit of Jo...

Rosemary Mahoney was determined to take a solo trip down the Egyptian Nile in a small boat, even though civil unrest and vexing local traditions conspired to create obstacles every step of the way.Starting off in the south, she gained the unlikely sympathy and respect of a Muslim sailor, who provided her with both a seven-foot skiff and a window into the culturally and materially impoverished lives of rural Egyptians. Egyptian women don't row on the Nile, and tourists aren't allowed...

A rich and greedy sultan meets his match in a VERY cheeky little red rooster…Hilariously wacky tale by bestselling author of War Horse.The rich and greedy sultan loves his jewels more than anything, so when he loses a diamond button he is furious!Especially as a naughty little red rooster seems determined to keep it…A marvellously funny tale by master storyteller, Michael Morpurgo.