Tunisia, 1930s. Against the turbulent backdrop of a country in search of its identity, the destinies of two prominent families intertwine: the Ennaifer family, with its rigidly conservative and patriarchal mentality, and the Rassaa family, who are openminded and avowedly progressive.
One terrible night in December 1935, the fortunes of both families are changed forever when Zbaida Ali Rassaa – the young wife of Mohsen Ennaifer – is accused of having a clandestine love affair with Tahar Haddad, an intellectual of humble origins known for his activism and support for women's rights.
The story of that fateful night is recounted by eleven narrators who recall the events from different moments in time over a span of seventy years. What emerges is a complex mosaic of secrets, memories, accusations, passion, and regret, and a vivid depiction of individuals swept up by the travails of history.
A finalist for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, A Calamity of Noble Houses is Amira Ghenim's stunning English language debut.
Über die Autorin / über den Autor:Amira Ghenim is a Tunisian writer and academic, and teaches Linguistics and Translation at Tunis University. Her novel The Yellow Dossier won the 2020 Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamad Prize. A Calamity of Noble Houses is her English language debut.
Miled Faiza is a poet, translator, and senior lecturer at Brown University. Among his translations into Arabic are Ali Smith's novels Autumn and Winter, the former being shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Together with Karen McNeil, he translated the 2016 IPAF winner The Italian by Shukri Mabkhout (Europa, 2021).
Karen McNeil is an Arabic-to-English translator. Together with Miled Faiza, she translated the 2016 IPAF winner The Italian by Shukri Mabkhout (Europa, 2021), as well as poems and short stories for Banipal and World Literature Today.
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