The Dark Side of Love

A Modern Arabic Novel from Syria
by Rafik Schami

A story of forbidden love set against the background of Arabic culture and endless feuds between clans. An international bestseller available for the first time in English.

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Price: £14.39

The Hashish Waiter

A Modern Arabic Novel from Egypt
by Khairy Shalaby

Tucked away in a rundown quarter, just out of sight of fashionable downtown Cairo, a group of intellectuals gathers regularly to smoke hashish in Hakeem’s den. The den is the centre of their lives, both a refuge and a stimulus, and at the centre of the den is the remarkable man who keeps their hashish bowls topped up—Saleh Bedlam.

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Price: £15.20

Papa Sartre

A Modern Arabic Novel from Iraq
by Ali Bader

After a failed study mission in France, Abd al-Rahman returns home to Iraq to launch an existentialist movement akin to that of his hero. Convinced that it falls upon him to introduce his country’s intellectuals to Sartre’s thought, he feels especially qualified by his physical resemblance to the philosopher (except for the crossed eyes) and by his marriage to Germaine, who he claims is the great man’s cousin. Meanwhile, his wealth and family prestige guarantee him an idle life spent in drinking, debauchery, and frequenting a well-known nightclub.

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Price: £13.60

Learning English

A Modern Arabic Novel from Lebanon
by Rachid Al-Daif

No matter how hard Rachid tries to recreate himself, to become educated and wordly – to ‘learn English’ – it is impossible for this hip Beiruti with his cell phone and high-speed internet to sever the connection to his past in the Lebanese village of Zgharta, know for its ‘tough guys’ and old-fashioned clan mentality.

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Price: £6.40

B as in Beirut

A Modern Arabic Novel from Lebanon
by Iman Humaydan Younes

The four interlocking narratives that make up this extraordinary novel belong to four women who live in the same apartment building in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war.

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Price: £7.19