The Locust and the Bird: My Mother's Story

A richly woven and breathtaking memoir that focuses on the extraordinary life of the author's mother. New York, 2001. As Hanan al-Shaykh travels through the streets of Manhattan to her daughter’s wedding her mind is elsewhere. Remembering own secret ceremony some thirty years ago, her thoughts turn to her mother, Kamila, who was sacrificed into marriage: her absent mother who, in recent, reconciled years, has pleaded with Hanan, her daughter the writer, to tell this story. Beautifully evoking the fabric of life in Lebanon, The Locust and the Bird is a remarkable and intensely moving memoir. Told in a voice that is entirely distinctive and authentic, this unique portrait of the life of one woman gives us an astonishing insight into the lives of many others in the Arab world.