Against the Loveless World

A sweeping and lyrical novel.As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in an Israeli prison. Born in Kuwait in the 70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, modern appliances, children, and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she’s forced to prostitute herself, and the US invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally makes a home, falls in love, and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation.Written with Susan Abulhawa’s distinctive “richly detailed, beautiful, and resonant” (Publishers Weekly) prose, this powerful novel presents a searing, darkly funny, and wholly unique portrait of a Palestinian woman who refuses to be a victim.