The Kindness of Enemies

The Kindness of Enemies

by Leila Aboulela (Author)

Synopsis

Natasha lives a lonely life, adrift in Scotland and torn between two identities. Born into a Muslim background but desperate to assimilate, she longs for a place to call home.

Then she meets Oz.

Oz is charismatic and passionate, a star student at the university where Natasha teaches. As their bond deepens, stories from Natasha's research come to life - tales of forbidden love, traded hostages, grieving mothers, and the Court of the Tsar.

But conflict emerges far closer to home as the police begin to investigate Oz. When they accuse him of terrorism, Natasha stands to lose everything she has fought to build . . .

Moving, epic and beautifully written, THE KINDNESS OF ENEMIES is a story about tolerance, identity and the places we call home.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Publisher: W&N
Published: 13 Aug 2015

ISBN 10: 1474600093
ISBN 13: 9781474600095

Media Reviews
The passages are arresting in their descriptiveness, with beautiful pockets of calm in which the spiritual journey, as advocated by Shamil's Sufi teacher, is explored. * THE INDEPENDENT *
The reader flicks back and forth through time, gleaning pleasure and enlightenment through each of the doorways as they go, finishing with a head filled with different nuances on questions politicians demand we reflect upon. * i newspaper *
Aboulela's graceful writing style makes for a pleasurable read. * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *
One of Aboulela's aims - apart from telling a fascinating story with the verve and assurance of a natural novelist - is surely to present a sympathetic picture of Islam to a western readership more accustomed to being what, for devout Muslims, is a distorted and reprehensible version of their faith. * THE SCOTSMAN *
[A] treat - a novel that recreates the fascinating story of the rebel of the Caucasus, Imam Shamil, a 19th-century warrior who battled to defend his home against the invading Russians and united the Muslims of the region under his iconic leadership. Weaving the story of his relationship with a Georgian princess he kidnapped into a more contemporary story of mistaken terrorism, we learn much about the nature of loss, the legacy of exile and the meaning of home at a time in our world when all three are high in our minds -- Mariella Frostrup * GUARDIAN, Best Books of 2015 *
An often intriguing story, politically relevant and historically fascinating * THE HERALD *
Author Bio

Leila Aboulela was born in Cairo and grew up in Khartoum. All three of her previous novels, The Translator, Minaret and Lyrics Alley, were longlisted for the Orange Prize. Lyrics Alley won Novel of the Year at the Scottish Book Awards and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, while Aboulela's collection of short fiction, Coloured Lights, won the Caine Prize. She lives in Aberdeen.

www.leila-aboulela.com/
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