The Story

A socio-political novel, Nisanit, depicts love, compassion, sacrifice, suffering and lost innocence in an atmosphere of conflict, hatred and oppression. Nisanit's three entwined narrative lines show the Arab-Israeli conflicts through the eyes of Shadeed, the Palestinian guerrilla fighter, whose mental collapse is followed closely in a stream of consciousness, echoing Kafka’s Metamorphosis; David, his Israeli interrogator; and Iman, the young Arab woman in love with Shadeed. The three main characters are presented as victims of history and geography who are grappling with the human cost of the Arab-Israeli and Arab-Arab conflicts and equally humanised and blamed. The novel dramatizes the following themes: faith and Fanaticism, the psychology of torturer and tortured, the question `Is love a consolation?’.

 

 

Reviews and endorsements

 

“A major writer . . . an extraordinary book.” (Malcolm Bradbury)

 

“Nisanit is horrifying and heart-breaking. It’s quite an achievement.” (Harold Pinter)

 

“Told in a passionate, breath taking, masterful style . . . it shows real talent and mastery of storytelling.” (World Literature Today)

“Bold and brave . . . Fadia Faqir’s talent is evident in her ability to make the reader cringe for both tortured and torturer without once making this any king of insulting intellectual exercise. This is a first novelist definitely to be rated and investment.” (The Independent)

 

“This is a significant first novel of serious intent, tautly written and graphically descriptive . . . She [Faqir] is as much a visionary as a mirror-holder to history – a new, exciting writer of bright promise." (Eastern Daily Press)

“Written with unhidebound verve . . . an ambitious solution to an impossible task: seeing the Arab Israeli conflict whole.” (New Statesman)

 

“A howl from the heart." (London Magazine)

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