The Parisian

Books

WINNER OF THE SUE KAUFMAN PRIZE FOR FICTION WINNER OF A BETTY TRASK AWARD WINNER OF A PALESTINE BOOK AWARD National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree "Superb . . . The Parisian makes history, and its actors, live once again."-Boston Globe A masterful debut novel by Plimpton Prize winner Isabella Hammad, The Parisian illuminates a pivotal period of Palestinian history through the journey and romances of one young man, from his studies in France during World War I to his return to Palestine at the dawn of its battle for independence. Midhat Kamal is the son of a wealthy textile merchant from Nablus, a town in Ottoman Palestine. A dreamer, a romantic, an aesthete, in 1914 he leaves to study medicine in France, and falls in love. When Midhat returns to Nablus to find it under British rule, and the entire region erupting with nationalist fervor, he must find a way to cope with his conflicting loyalties and the expectations of his community. The story of Midhat's life develops alongside the idea of a nation, ...