An Unlasting Home
About the Book
Sara is a philosophy professor at Kuwait University. Her relationship with Kuwait is complicated; it is a country she recognises less and less. Yet since her return from California after her mother’s death, a certain inertia has kept her there. When she is accused of blasphemy – which carries with it the threat of execution – Sara realises she must reconcile her feelings and her place in the world once and for all.
Awaiting trial, Sara retraces the past, intent on examining the lives of the women who made her. Interspersed with her narratives are the stories of her grandmothers: beautiful and stubborn Yasmine, who marries the son of the Pasha of Basra and lives to regret it, and Lulwa, born poor in old Kuwait and swept off to India by her wealthy merchant husband; and her two mothers: Noura, who dreams of building a life in America, and her ayah Maria, who leaves her own children behind in Pune to help raise Sara and her brother Karim.
Spanning Kuwait, Lebanon, Iraq, India and the United States, An Unlasting Home brings to life the triumphs and failures of three generations of Arab women. At once intimate and sweeping, personal and political, it is an unforgettable family portrait and a spellbinding epic tale.
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 PhD in English from Brown University and is an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Kuwait University. Her short story collection, The Hidden Light of Objects, won the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s First Book Award in 2014. Her fiction and essays have appeared in various publications, including Ninth Letter, The First Line, After the Pause, World Literature Today, and the BBC World Service. She lives in Kuwait and is working on her second novel.
Reviews
‘A multigenerational saga about five formidable women … Evocatively crosses the decades and continents to chart Kuwait’s transition through the twentieth century.’ Mariella Frostrup, Times Radio
‘A smooth, fast-flowing narrative devoted to telling, not showing … a testament to the eternal vibrancy and pluck of women in the Arab world.’ Financial Times
‘Passionate and skilful. Every detail lands perfectly and leaves the reader altered.’ A.L. Kennedy
‘Al Nakib writes imaginative tales with grace, lucidity and intelligence. Poignant and profound.’ Selma Dabbagh
'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 mesmerising saga of women’s resilience in the face of political turmoil.' Buzz Magazine
'An author already confident in her craft and her ability to give voice to the emotions and yearnings of her characters.' New Internationalist
'A spellbinding family history unfolds as a Kuwaiti woman goes on trial for blasphemy in a world gone mad. Deftly written, structurally brilliant, Mai Al-Nakib's An Unlasting Home is a lasting novel that splits open time, leaps across continents and creates the sort of characters we carry forward into our hearts and lives. I absolutely loved this book.' A. Manette Ansay
'An ambitious family epic with a historical sweep, an elegy to grandmothers and mothers who were forced from their original homes by personal or political circumstances in the Middle East to build nests elsewhere.' World Literature Today
'An Unlasting Home is an unforgettable story of people making choices for love, family, freedom and identity against the tidal forces of history in the Arab region. Shimmering with poetic prose, and as pressingly real as the white heat of August in Baghdad, this poignant debut will keep you in its thrall.' Juhea Kim
'Deeply enchanting, at times suspenseful, and always engaging, 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. Mai Al-Nakib's storyteller's voice is fresh and original. Her book grabbed me from the outset and kept me entranced to the last page.' Diana Abu-Jaber
'Mai Al-Nakib lyrically explores themes of homeland, tradition and agency as she relates the stories of generations of Arab women across Kuwait, the US, Iraq, India and Lebanon.' Ms. Magazine
'Grapples profoundly with the limits of individual choice and the hold exerted by a person's homeland ... accomplished and searing.' Publishers Weekly
'So fresh and unsettling that it will enchant you from the first page and linger for days after reading ... Deftly written ... Its epic family saga style echoes that of Hala Alyan's Salt Houses and The Arsonists' City, Ayad Akhtar's Homeland Elegies, and Min Jin Lee's Pachinko.' Los Angeles Review of Books
'A sweeping novel that will stick with readers for a long time.' Debutiful
'For lovers of sweeping, multigenerational epics like Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing or Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, this story following three generations of Arab women will strike right at the heart.' Bitch Media
'An ambitious family epic with a historical sweep, an elegy to grandmothers and mothers who were forced from their original homes by personal or political circumstances in the Middle East to build nests elsewhere.' World Literature Today
'Refreshing and eye-opening.' Electric Literature
