First published 2019
Midhat Kamal leaves his family's textile business in Ottoman Palestine to study medicine in France in 1914. The son of a wealthy merchant from Nablus, he dreams of becoming a doctor while navigating life as a foreigner during World War I. In France, he discovers love and develops new ideas about identity and belonging. When Midhat returns home, he finds everything changed. The British now control Palestine, and nationalist movements surge through the region. His community expects him to fulfill traditional roles, but his time abroad has altered his perspective. Midhat struggles between his personal desires and family obligations as political upheaval reshapes the Middle East around him. The young man who left as an Ottoman subject must now decide what independence means for himself and his people. His story unfolds against the backdrop of a pivotal moment in Palestinian history, when personal choices carried the weight of a nation's future.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-obligations, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Ottoman Palestine, France, Middle East
Period: 1914
576 pages · Hardcover · Grove Press