A Land without Jasmine
Wajdi Al-Adhal
£8.99
WINNER OF THE 2013 SAIF GHOBASH BANIPAL PRIZE FOR ARABIC LITERARY TRANSLATION
‘In Yemen, all young women are considered celebrities! When a girl leaves her home and ventures into the street she’ll notice that everyone is staring at her.’
So writes twenty-one-year-old Jasmine, an independent-minded, intelligent and very beautiful student at Sana’s University, in the diary found after she disappears suddenly. In it, she has recorded such piquant observations in addition to her hopes, fears and erotic longings.
With few clues to her fate, Inspector Abdurrabbih Ubayd al-Adini must become familiar with the characters that populated Jasmine’s world , each of whom offers a self-serving, idiosyncratic account. Motives are numerous and suspects plentiful, and family, friends, fellow students and nosy neighbours are quick to make their own judgements about the case – but the truth may be far stranger than anyone could have anticipated.
