An Unlasting Home

About the Book

Sara, a philosophy professor at Kuwait University, has long lived uneasily in her country. After her mother’s death, she remains in Kuwait out of inertia – until she is accused of blasphemy and faces the threat of execution. As she awaits trial, Sara begins to reconcile her place in the world by retracing the lives of the women who shaped her.

Her grandmothers’ lives span privilege and poverty: Yasmine, who marries the son of a pasha and quickly regrets it, and Lulwa, lifted from hardship and swept away to India by her wealthy merchant husband. Then there are her two mothers: Noura, politically ambitious and restless for America, and Maria, the devoted ayah who leaves her own children behind to raise Sara and her brother.

Sweeping and intimate, An Unlasting Home follows the tragedies and triumphs of three generations of Arab women in an unforgettable family saga.

About the Author

Mai Al-Nakib was born in Kuwait and spent the first six years of her life in London, Edinburgh, and St. Louis, Missouri. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Brown University and was an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Kuwait University for twenty years. Her short-story collection, The Hidden Light of Objects, won the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s First Book Award in 2014. Her work has appeared in various publications, including Ninth Letter, The First Line, World Literature Today, Rowayat and The Markaz Review. She lives in Kuwait. www.maialnakib.com

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Reviews

‘A multigenerational saga about five formidable women … Evocatively crosses decades and continents.’
Mariella Frostrup, Times Radio

‘A testament to the eternal vibrancy and pluck of women in the Arab world.’
Financial Times

'So fresh and unsettling that it will enchant you from the first page and linger for days after reading.'
Los Angeles Review of Books

‘A spellbinding family history … I absolutely loved this book.’
A. Manette Ansay

‘Shimmering with poetic prose, this poignant debut will keep you in its thrall.’
Juhea Kim

‘Deeply enchanting … An Unlasting Home is filled with tales of women's lives and their intersection with the often volatile and unpredictable currents of nations, war and political history.’
Diana Abu-Jaber