As we continue to celebrate Arab American Heritage Month this April, Grove Atlantic is excited to share a list of books we love from Arab writers publishing in America. These works of fiction and nonfiction each provide a moving glimpse into the lives of those of Arab descent, whether it be two women harboring secrets at a refugee camp in Greece or Palestinians and their prolonged struggle for freedom. Read on to explore all the amazing titles we recommend!

 

River Spirit by Leila Aboulela

River Spirit is the spellbinding new novel from New York Times Notable Author and Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela about an embattled young woman’s coming of age during the Mahdist War in nineteenth-century Sudan. Aboulela gives us the unforgettable story of a people who—against the odds and for a brief time—gained independence from foreign rule through their willpower, subterfuge, and sacrifice. This is a powerful tale of corruption, coming of age, and unshakeable devotion—to a cause, to one’s faith, and to the people who become family.

“A blazing historical epic of war, love, and revolution . . . A magnificent novel about the price of unwavering devotion and the inexhaustible pursuit for freedom.”—Los Angeles Review of Books

 

The Parisian by Isabella Hammad

Midhat Kamal leaves Palestine in 1914 to study medicine in France and falls in love. When he returns to find it under British rule, he must cope with his conflicting loyalties. The story of Midhat’s life develops alongside the idea of a nation, as he and those close to him confront what it means to strive for independence in a world on the verge of falling apart. Set against a landscape of political change, The Parisian explores questions of power and identity, enduring love, and the uncanny ability of the past to disrupt the present.

“Stunning . . . a lush rendering of Palestinian life a century ago under the British mandate and a sumptuous epic about the enduring nature of love.”―Vogue

 

Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad

A stunning rendering of art and connection in present-day Palestine, Enter Ghost is a story of diaspora, displacement, and the connection to be found in family and shared resistance. Timely, thoughtful, and passionate, Isabella Hammad’s award-winning second novel is an exquisite feat, an unforgettable story of artistry under occupation.

“An Arabic language production of ‘Hamlet’ in the West Bank is the stage for this clear-eyed and vivid book, in which estranged sisters, hot-headed men, a zealous director, and a cast of actors work together in spite of their internal and external challenges to make art.”—Boston Globe, Best Books of the Year

 

Recognizing the Stranger by Isabella Hammad

Isabella Hammad delivered the Edward W. Said Lecture at Columbia University nine days before October 7, 2023. The text of Hammad’s seminal speech and her afterword, written in early 2024, make up a searing appraisal of the war on Palestine during what feels like a turning point in the narrative of human history. Profound and moving, Hammad writes from within the moment, giving voice to the Palestinian struggle for freedom.

“Extraordinary and amazingly erudite. Hammad shows how art and especially literature can be much, much more revealing than political writing.”—Rashid Khalidi

 

The Angel of History by Rabih Alameddine

Over the course of one night in the waiting room of a psych clinic, Yemeni-born poet Jacob—along with a sassy Satan, a dour Death, and fourteen saints—revisits the events of his life, from his upbringing in an Egyptian whorehouse to his adolescence under the aegis of his wealthy father and his life as a gay Arab man in San Francisco at the height of AIDS. Alameddine gives us a charged philosophical portrayal of a brilliant mind in crisis. This is a profound and winning story of the war between memory and oblivion with which we wrestle every day of our life.

“A sprawling fever dream of a novel, by turns beautiful and horrifying, and impossible to forget.”—NPR.org

 

The Wrong End of the Telescope by Rabih Alameddine

From the National Book Award finalist comes a transporting novel about an Arab American trans woman’s journey among Syrian refugees on Lesbos island. Not since An Unnecessary Woman has Alameddine conjured such a winsome heroine to lead us to one of the most wrenching conflicts of our time. The Wrong End of the Telescope is a bedazzling tapestry of both tragic and amusing portraits of indomitable spirits facing a humanitarian crisis.

“Spectacular . . . Alameddine’s irreverent prose evokes the old master storytellers from my own Middle Eastern home, their observations toothy and full of wit, returning always to human absurdity.”—New York Times Book Review

 

Palestine: A Personal History by Karl Sabbagh

Karl Sabbagh traces Palestine and Palestinians from their roots in the mélange of tribes, ethnic groups, and religions that have populated the region for centuries, and describes how, as a result of global power politics, the majority of Palestinians were expelled from their home. Both a transporting narrative and a meditation on a region that remains a flashpoint of conflict—a story of how past choices and actions reverberate in the present day.

“Carefully researched and engaging, his memoir offers a vital yet unfamiliar perspective on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a heartfelt, judicious invitation to dialogue.”—Publishers Weekly

 

Keep an eye out for Rabih Alameddine’s upcoming novel!

 

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine

In a tiny Beirut apartment, sixty-three-year-old Raja, high school philosophy teacher and “the neighborhood homosexual,” and his nosy, octogenarian mother live side by side. When Raja receives an invite to an all-expenses-paid writing residency in America, what at first seems like a stroke of good fortune soon leads Raja to recount and relive the very disasters and past betrayals he wishes to forget. Told in Raja’s irresistible and wickedly funny voice, the novel dances across six decades to tell the unforgettable story of a singular life and its absurdities—a tale of mistakes, self-discovery, trauma, and maybe even forgiveness.