The Qahtan are a Palestinian family that claims to have originated in the Arabian Peninsula, descended from the family of the Prophet Muhammad. This connection has given its members a certain ascendancy in their society, and has influenced their cultural and political choices. The true test occurs when the Qahtanis, like other Palestinians, confront two enemies after the First World War: the British Mandate and the Zionist movement. Observing the gradual and increasing illegal Jewish immigration and land appropriation, the Palestinians come to realize they have been betrayed by a power that "fulfilled their promises to the Jews and reneged on their promises to the Arabs."
Sahar Khalifeh brings to the forefront the inner conflicts of Palestinian society as it struggles to affirm its cultural and national identity, save its threatened homeland, and maintain a semblance of normalcy in otherwise abnormal circumstances.
Über die Autorin / über den Autor:Sahar Khalifeh, born in Nablus in 1941, is an acclaimed Palestinian author. She is hailed as a feminist writer and has written eleven novels, which have been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, and many other languages. She has won numerous international prizes, including the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature for The Image, the Icon, and the Covenant. As a young woman, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study in the United States, and holds a Masters in English Literature from the University of North Carolina and a PhD in Women's Studies and American Literature from Iowa University.
Aida Bamia is professor emerita of Arabic language and literature at the University of Florida in Gainesville in the US, where she lives. She is a literary translator and has translated The Inheritance and The Image, the Icon, and the Covenant, among other books.
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