Description:
Two Palestinian teenagers discover secrets that change all they thought they knew about their family histories--and their own futures.
Farida is a talented young painter who recreates European masterpieces under the patronizing eye of a Parisian art dealer. Mazen just arrived in France to hunt for a lost family heirloom. When the two meet during a chance encounter at the Louvre, they discover that both their grandmothers fled Palestine during the Nakba in 1948. Drawn to one another, Mazen and Farida begin to piece together their past, but a shadowy ring of art forgers has other plans for Farida. Will she discover the truth before it's too late?
Exploring what it means to live in diaspora, Hooda Shawa's US debut moves from Paris to Haifa, from Aleppo to Tangier, conjuring the jewel tones of the Mediterranean and the bittersweet taste of memory.
Brief description:
Sawad Hussain is a translator from Arabic whose work has been recognised by English PEN, the Anglo-Omani Society and the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, among others. She is a judge for the Palestine Book Awards and the 2023 National Translation Award. She has run translation workshops under the auspices of Shadow Heroes, Africa Writes, Shubbak Festival, the Yiddish Book Center, the British Library, and the National Centre for Writing. Her most recent translations include Black Foam by Haji Jaber (AmazonCrossing) and What Have You Left Behind by Bushra al-Maqtari (Fitzcarraldo Editions). She was selected to be the Princeton Translator in Residence in 2025. She is based in Cambridge, U.K. and her website is sawadhussain.com.
Review Quotes:
"A beautifully interwoven story about loss and making, about history and color, about the tragedy and genius of world-building in the aftermath of great rupture. I was so heartened, so moved, by The Necklace of Seven Souls."
-- Safia Elhillo, author of Bright Red Fruit and Home Is Not a Country
"Richly descriptive and saturated with color and sensory detail, with beautiful illustrations by Esmaeel that subtly reinforce the work's cultural grounding. The narrative engages thoughtfully with questions of colonial collecting practices and artistic ownership without sacrificing emotional intimacy. A quiet, contemplative narrative exploring loss, personal history, and self-reclamation."
-- Kirkus Reviews
"Provides a space of hope and optimism for the continuity of young generations and their ability to move forward, demolish stereotypes, break down barriers, and find a way in which they have features and an identity that resemble them."
-- Faten Al-Jamal and Mohamed Al-Zaqzouq, Ultra Sawt