A moving story about Palestine's 1948 Exodus by the Arab world's finest living novelist. First in a trilogy.

Long exiled in New York, Palestinian ex-pat Adam Dannoun thought he knew himself. But an encounter with Blind Mahmoud, a father figure from his childhood, changes everything. As he investigates exactly what occurred in 1948 in Lydda, the city of his birth, he gathers stories that speak to his people's bravery, ingenuity, and resolve in the face of unimaginable hardship.

Elias Khoury is the author of 13 novels, 4 volumes of literary criticism, and 3 plays. For 12 years he was a Prof. of Middle Eastern and Arabic Studies at New York University and has also taught at Columbia University. He won the Palestine Prize for Gate of the Sun, also named a Best Book of the Year by Le Monde Diplomatique, The Christian Science Monitor, and The San Francisco Chronicle, and a Notable Book by The New York Times. As Though She Were Sleeping won France's inaugural Arabic Novel Prize. In 2016, he was awarded the Mahmoud Darwish Award for Creativity. About the translator: Humphrey Davies is a translator of Arabic fiction, historical, and classical texts. His translations include Elias Khoury's Yalo, Naguid Mahfouz's Thebes at War and Midaqq Alley, Alla Al-Aswany's The Yacoubian Building and Friendly Fire, Hamdy el-Gazzar's Black Magic, Mohamed Mustagab's Tales of Dayrut, and the four-volume 19th century Arabic experimental novel, Leg over Leg, by Faris Al-Shidyaq. A two-time winner of the Banipal Prize, he is also the recipient of the English PEN Writers In Translation Award. Davies lives in Cairo.