[home] [news] [this year's award] [publishers] [libraries] [award archive] [faqs] [dublin city public libraries] [IMPAC] [contact us]
|
The
2007 Award |
|
Minaret by Leila Aboulela
|
Nominated by:
Publisher
of Nominated Edition |
| the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors |
|
ABOUT
THE BOOK |
| In her Muslim hijab, with her down-turned gaze, Najwa is invisible to most eyes, especially to the rich families whose houses she cleans in London. Twenty years ago, Najwa, then at university in Khartoum, would never have imagined that one day she would be a maid. An upper-class Westernized Sudanese, her dreams were to marry well and raise a family. But a coup forces the young woman and her family into political exile in London. Soon orphaned, and with her twin brother sent to jail on a drug charge, she finds solace and companionship within the Muslim community. Then Najwa meets Tamer, the intense, lonely younger brother of her employer. They find a common bond in faith and slowly, silently, begin to fall in love. Written with directness and force, Minaret is a lyric and insightful novel about Islam and an alluring glimpse into a culture Westerners are only just beginning to understand. |
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
|
Leila Aboulela was born in 1964 and grew up in Khartoum, Sudan. She is the author of Minaret and Coloured Lights, and winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Her work has been translated into six languages. The Translator is her first novel. |
|
COMMENTS FROM LIBRARIES |
[home] [news] [this year's award] [publishers] [libraries] [award archive] [dublin city public libraries] [IMPAC] [faqs] [contact us]
Copyright
© 2007 Dublin City Public Libraries
