Nathalie Abi-Ezzi

A coming-of-age story sparked, but not consumed, by violence and loss, this poetic debut captures both a country and a childhood plagued by a conflict that even at its most threatening, carries the promise of healing and retribution.

A Girl Made of Dust

De zorgeloze kindertijd van de tienjarige Ruba en haar broer Naji in een christelijk dorpje in Libanon wordt bruut onderbroken door de aanhoudende bombardementen op het nabijgelegen Beiroet. In eerste instantie is de oorlog ver weg, maar langzamerhand dringt die het leven van de familie binnen. Terwijl hun moeder en oma proberen het dagelijks leven zo gewoon mogelijk voort te zetten, zit hun vader zwijgend in zijn leunstoel, gekweld door een depressie en achtervolgd door een gebeurtenis waarover niemand iets wil zeggen.

Een meisje in het zand

A “beautifully written, lyrical . . . completely believable” prize-winning novel about a girl’s coming of age in war-torn Lebanon (Publishers Weekly). In her peaceful town outside Beirut, Ruba is slowly awakening to the shifting contours within her household: hardly speaking and refusing to work, her father has inexplicably withdrawn from his family in favor of his favorite armchair; her once-youthful mother looks so sad that Ruba imagines her heart must have withered like a fig in the heat; and Ruba’s brother, Naji, is spending less time with Ruba than he is with older friends, some of whom carry guns. In trying to salvage her family, Ruba uncovers a secret from her father’s past. It sends her on a journey far from the fantasies of youth and into a brutal reality where men kill in the name of faith and race, old wrongs remain unforgiven, and where nothing less than self-sacrifice and unity can offer survival. But as Israeli troops invade Beirut and danger moves ever closer, Ruba realizes that she alone may not be able to keep her loved ones safe. She must first save her father. “Exquisitely affecting . . . page-turningly suspenseful . . . A Girl Made of Dust is equally gripping as a poignant family drama and as a visceral depiction of living with war literally crashing on your doorstep” (Words Without Borders). With its “delightful and precocious narrator [reminiscent of] Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird,” Abi-Ezzi captures both a country and a childhood plagued by a conflict that even at its darkest and most threatening, carries the promise of healing and retribution (Christian Science Monitor).

Nicolette Hoekmeijer

Een 10-jarig Libanees meisje woont in de jaren tachtig van de 20e eeuw met haar familie in een dorp buiten Beiroet tijdens de burgeroorlog en ervaart hoe het dagelijks leven wordt beïnvloed door religieuze en politieke conflicten.

Paper Sparrows

Robert Louis Stevenson, Wilkie Collins and Daphne du Maurier are authors of particular importance to the literature of the double, having produced, among other works, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Woman in White and Rebecca. Each also rejected the prevailing social order of his or her time, a factor that plays an important role in determining how the double is represented and treated. The literary theory of romance narrative structure follows the hero's journey through a dark 'descent' to a happier 'ascent', but this journey is shown to apply to a largely masculine identity. On the other hand, the rise of the female persona and her relation to the double is a progression that is clearly charted through the works of Stevenson, Collins and du Maurier. It shows an extraordinary alteration in the structure of traditional romance narrative, and leads to an exploration of new ways in which the imprisoned female character may be able to free herself and become whole.

Nathalie Abi-Ezzi

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