Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A stunning
debut novel and an impressive feat of storytelling that pulls together
mythology, magic, and ancient legend in the gripping story of a mother's
struggle to save her only daughter
Nadine is
a hakawati jinn tasked with one job: telling the stories of the
dead. She rises every morning to gather pomegranate seeds--the souls of the dead--that have fallen during the night.
With her daughter Layala at her side, she eats the seeds and tells their stories. Only then can the
departed pass through the final gate of death.
But when the seeds
stop falling, Nadine knows something is terribly wrong. All her worst fears are confirmed
when she is visited by Kamuna, Death herself and ruler of the
underworld, who
reveals her desire for someone
to replace her: it is Layala she
wants.
Nadine will do whatever it
takes to keep her daughter
safe, but Kamuna has
little patience and a ruthless drive to get what she has come for. Layala's fate, meanwhile, hangs
in the balance.
Rooted in Middle
Eastern mythology, Rania Hanna
deftly weaves subtle, yet breathtaking, magic through this vivid and
compelling story that has at its heart the universal human desire to, somehow,
outmaneuver death.