Books like Absent by Betool Khedairi
Dalal, a young woman raised by her aunt and uncle, shares a cramped Baghdad apartment with a host of neighbors: the fortune‑teller Umm Mazin, the hairdresser Saad, and the nurse Ilham who dreams of her French mother. As bombs and sanctions strain their community, each person grapples with personal and collective hardship. Dalal’s uncle turns to beekeeping to earn money, bringing honey and new responsibilities into their lives. Amid arrests, betrayals, and a crumbling social fabric, Dalal experiences her first love. The novel weaves these intimate stories into a vivid, haunting picture of life under restriction, the fragile ties of family and friends, and the resilience of the human spirit.
First publish date: 2005
Genre: General Fiction/General Fiction
Authors: Betool Khedairi
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