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Product Info
Publisher: Grove Press
Author: Isabella Hammad
ISBN: 9780802163301
Fiction
Enter Ghost
by
Isabella Hammad
Enter Ghost by
Isabella Hammad
Reviews
"Terrific . . . Enter Ghost though contemporary, is thoroughly infused with Palestine's past -- and thoroughly haunted by Sonia's. Hammad, who is both a delicate writer and an exact one, intertwines the two, taking care to give Sonia as many personal ghosts as she does historical ones....Indeed, the novel seems to argue, real growth and connection, both political and personal, cannot begin until everyone's ghosts have emerged from hiding. Art is, if nothing else, a powerful tool for coaxing them out."
New York Times Book Review
Summary
After years away from her family's homeland, and reeling from a disastrous love affair, actress Sonia Nasir returns to Haifa to visit her older sister Haneen. This is her first trip back since the second intifada and the deaths of their grandparents: while Haneen made a life here commuting to Tel Aviv to teach at the university, Sonia remained in London to focus on her acting career and now dissolute marriage. On her return, she finds her relationship to Palestine is fragile, both bone-deep and new.
At Haneen's, Sonia meets the charismatic and candid Mariam, a local director, and finds herself roped into a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. Sonia is soon rehearsing Gertude's lines in Classical Arabic and spending more time in Ramallah than Haifa, along with a dedicated group of men from all over historic Palestine who, in spite of competing egos and priorities, each want to bring Shakespeare to that side of the wall. As opening night draws closer it becomes clear just how many violent obstacles stand before a troupe of Palestinian actors. Amidst it all, the life Sonia once knew starts to give way to the daunting, exhilarating possibility of finding a new self in her ancestral home.
A stunning rendering of present-day Palestine, Enter Ghost is a story of diaspora, displacement, and the connection to be found in family and shared resistance. Timely, thoughtful, and passionate, Isabella Hammad's highly anticipated second novel is an exquisite feat, an unforgettable story of artistry under occupation.
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction
