The Near & Middle East

An accessible, well-researched yet distinctly non-academic point of entry for the general reader seeking a reliable history of US-Iranian relationships.

What life was really like under Saddam's tyrannical reign.

Old wounds reopen during a series of terrorist attacks in the city where East and West meet: Istanbul.

t’s 2010 and Natasha, a half Russian, half Sudanese professor of Islamic studies, is researching the life of Imam Shamil, the 19th century Muslim leader who led the anti-Russian resistance in the Caucasian War. When shy, single Natasha discovers that her star student, Oz, is not only descended from the warrior but also possesses Shamil’s priceless sword, the Imam’s story comes vividly to life. As Natasha’s relationship with Oz and his alluring actress mother intensifies, Natasha is forced to confront issues she had long tried to avoid—that of her Muslim heritage.

Told with Aboulela’s inimitable elegance and narrated from the point of view of both Natasha and the historical characters she is researching, The Kindness of Enemies is both an engrossing story of a provocative period in history and an important examination of what it is to be a Muslim in a post 9/11 world.

An Unnecessary Woman is a breathtaking portrait of one reclusive woman’s late-life crisis, which garnered a wave of rave reviews and love letters to Alameddine’s cranky yet charming septuagenarian protagonist, Aaliya, a character you “can’t help but love” (NPR). Aaliya’s insightful musings on literature, philosophy, and art are invaded by memories of the Lebanese Civil War and her volatile past. As she tries to overcome her aging body and spontaneous emotional upwellings, Aaliya is faced with an unthinkable disaster that threatens to shatter the little life she has left.

In this supremely assured, lush, and rip-roaring book, Eteraz manages to do the impossible, gliding confidently over the chasm that divides East and West. Wildly entertaining…memoir of the first order.” —Murad Kalam, author of Night JourneyAli Eteraz’s award-winning memoir reveals the searing spiritual story of growing up in Pakistan under the specter of militant Islamic fundamentalism and then overcoming the culture shock of emigrating to the United States. A gripping memoir evocative of Persepolis, Reading Lolita in Tehran, and the novel The Kite Runner, Eteraz’s narrative is also a cathartic chronicle of spiritual awakening.

n an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients—dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups—from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif—the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind. The aristocratic woman Alif loves has jilted him for a prince chosen by her parents, and his computer has just been breached by the state’s electronic security force, putting his clients and his own neck on the line.

With shades of Neal Stephenson, Philip Pullman, and The Thousand and One Nights, Alif the Unseen is a tour de force debut—a sophisticated melting pot of ideas, philosophy, technology, and spirituality smuggled inside an irresistible page-turner.

It is a truth universally acknowledged … Esma is a modern Muslim woman with an age-old dilemma. She is well-educated, well-travelled and has excellent taste in music, but the hunt for Mr Right leads her to a number of Mr Wrongs. Together with wild-haired Ruby, principled Lisa, and drop-dead gorgeous Nirvana, Esma forms the No Sex in the City Club. Her quest for The One (or Mr Almost-Perfect) was never going to be easy, but soon enough it takes an unexpected and thrilling detour. ‘Filled with humour and honesty, Randa has lifted the veil on arranged marriages and Muslim society, and proves that finding The One isn’t easy for anyone, regardless of religion.’

In No Land's Man Aasif Mandvi explores this and other conundrums through stories about his family, ambition, desire, and culture that range from dealing with his brunch-obsessed father, to being a high-school-age Michael Jackson impersonator, to joining a Bible study group in order to seduce a nice Christian girl, to improbably becoming America's favorite Muslim/Indian/Arab/Brown/Doctor correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

This is a book filled with passion, discovery, and humor. Mandvi hilariously and poignantly describes a journey that will resonate with anyone who has had to navigate his or her way in the murky space between lands. Or anyone who really loves brunch.

he Good Muslim is an epic story about faith, familyand the long shadow of war. Tahmima Anam, the prize-winning author of A Golden Age, offers a moving portrait of a sister and brother whostruggle with the competing loyalties of love and belief as they cope with thelasting ravages of war and confront the deeply intimate roots of religious extremism.

Afghanistan, 1975: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.

More than 100 stirring, unforgettable lyrics by the great 13th century Sufi teacher and mystical poet include «The Marriage of True Minds," «The Children of Light," «The Man Who Looked Back on His Way to Hell," “The Ascending Soul,” «The Pear-Tree of Illusion,” «The Riddles of God,” and many others.

In Estebanico’s telling, the survivors’ journey across great swathes of the New World transforms would-be conquerors into humble servants and fearful outcasts into faith healers. He remains ever-observant, resourceful and hopeful that he might one day find his way back to his family, even as he experiences an unexpected (if ambiguous) camaraderie with his masters.

The Moor’s Account illuminates the ways in which stories can transmigrate into history, and how storytelling can offer a chance for redemption, reinvention and survival.

Saeed takes readers to Pakistan as they follow the story of Naila, a Pakistani-American girl, who is caught between her American upbringing and her Pakistani roots and is forced into a marriage based on her conservative parents’ wishes.

The first book in this bestselling series (which includes follow-up A Torch In the Night) sees rebel Laia go undercover as a slave at a renowned military academy to rescue her captured older brother — only to join forces with Elias, a reluctant elite soldier looking to escape a life of violence.

This exploration of Islamic spirituality delves into the psychological diseases and cures of the heart. Diseases examined include miserliness, envy, hatred, treachery, rancour, malice, ostentation, arrogance, covetousness, lust, and other afflictions that assail people and often control them.

A contemporary twist on a classic story of forbidden love, set in Jakarta, capital city of Indonesia. Vic thinks she knows what to expect. However, before long she becomes troubled by the casual coexistence of vast wealth and woeful poverty, and by the stark differences in freedom and power between the men and the women. Fajar has lived in Jakarta all his life. He gets by, loaning money from friends and family, spending his nights racing, and his days working on the roads as an ojek driver.

Neither Fajar nor Vic expect to find friendship and solace in their strange arrangement. But, before long, they will step outside the mores of their cultures together, crossing a boundary that will shake both of their lives.