The Cry Of The Dove - Hardcover

Faqir, Fadia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002008343 ISBN 13: 9780002008341

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007

Synopsis

The English doctor tells Salma that she must forget her past. But how can she when it has followed her all the way from her tiny Bedouin village to this place in England “where the river meets the sea”? Salma has violated the laws of her tribe by becoming pregnant before marriage; to restore their honour, the villagers must kill her. Salma is imprisoned for her own protection, her baby torn from her arms. Years later, when it seems her persecutors have given up the chase, Salma is smuggled out of prison and finds exile in Exeter, England. But now, living by her Immigrant Survival Guide, Salma finds a prison of another kind. Trying to navigate the cultural divide between a permissive and often racist contemporary Western society and her traditional tribal Muslim upbringing, Salma perseveres and creates a new life. But the cries of her lost child will not be silenced; she is driven to return to her childhood village in a shattering journey that will change everything and nothing.

Slipping seamlessly between the olive groves of the Levant and the rain-slicked streets of England, Cry of the Dove is a searing novel of forbidden love, violated honour and a woman’s courage in the face of insurmountable odds.

About this title

About the Author

FADIA FAQIR is a Jordanian-British writer. She is the author of two other novels, Nisanit and Pillars of Salt. Brought up in Amman, Jordan, she lives with her husband in Durham, England. Visit her online atwww.fadiafaqir.com.

From Booklist

The third novel from this provocative Jordanian author boldly addresses her ongoing theme of the vulnerability of Arab women in male-dominated societies. Her protagonist is Salma, a member of a Bedouin tribe in Hima, the Levant, who at 16 becomes pregnant out of wedlock—considered by her tribe a crime punishable by death. Imprisoned for her own safety, she gives birth five months later; her daughter is spirited away, and Salma is imprisoned eight more years before being secretly released and sent to Southampton, England. There she works as a seamstress and barmaid, removes her veil and cautiously gains her independence. Faqir shifts her narrative abruptly between Salma's years in prison and her ongoing life, capturing the reader in a jarring juxtaposition of emotions. Salma dreams of someday going to Greece—"the nearest she could get to her home without being shot." When her daughter is 16, Salma can no longer resist trying to find her, and in so doing risks everything she has become. A remarkable and exquisitely written tale of a repressive, still active tradition. Donovan, Deborah

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0002008343
• ISBN 13: 9780002008341
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1