Overview

A deeply poetic account of love and resistance through a young girl’s eyes by acclaimed writer, Sahar Khalifeh, called ""the Virginia Woolf of Palestinian literature” (Börsenblatt) Nidal, after many decades of restless exile, returns to her family home in Nablus, where she had lived with her grandmother before the 1948 Nakba that scattered her family across the globe. She was a young girl when the popular resistance began and, through the bloodshed and bitter struggle, Nidal fell in love with freedom fighter Rabie. He was her first and only real love—him and all that he represented: Palestine in its youth, the resistance fighters in the hills, the nation as embodied in her family home and in the land. Many years later, Nidal and Rabie meet, and he encourages her to read her uncle Amin’s memoirs. She immerses herself in the details of her family and national past and discovers the secret history of her absent mother. Filled with emotional urgency and political immediacy, Sahar Khalifeh spins an epic tale reaching from the final days of the British Mandate to today with clear-eyed realism and great imagination.

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The best Arab woman novelist in the twentieth century. --Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban Khalifeh is simply the greatest Palestinian novelist and one of the world's greatest historical novelists, ranking with Naguib Mahfouz, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and Pramoedya Ananta Toer. --Jim Holstun, Professor of English, University at Buffalo Khalifeh effectively paints a crazy world where individuals seek to lead normal lives under nightmarish conditions . . . .Highly recommended. --Library Journal In Khalifeh's book, Palestinian Christians and Muslims, Jewish immigrants, and British colonial leaders are all treated with equal sympathy -- Women's Review of Books Incisively explores individual lives--particularly women's lives--in the years just before 1948. --Marcia Lynx Qualey, Arabic Literature The author invokes a sacred heritage that remains at once vital and powerful. --Dr. Abdel Moneim Tallima Sahar Khalifeh is the Virginia Woolf of Palestinian literature. -- Boersenblatt

"NAMED ONE OF THE 20 BEST BOOKS WRITTEN BY PALESTINIAN AUTHORS BY HAPPY MEDIA ""My First and Only Love is a great read for upper middle school and high school students who want to understand Palestinian history and culture."" --PBS Newshour Student Voices ""About falling in love across borders. . . . recommend[ed].""--Electric Literature ""[A] novel that removes the reader from a world dominated by ideology and partisan stances, into a lauding of heroism and human bravery; it sings the praises of the championship of ordinary citizens, especially during times of prevailing frustration. The story remains optimistic, in its content and its national and humanitarian mission . . . Khalifeh's narrative style is sensitive, thrifty, and transparent . . . Well done!""--Asymptote ""Khalifeh transcends the local struggles of the Palestinian protagonists to the more universal . . . If there is an Arabic novelist who deserves the Nobel Prize, after Naguib Mahfouz, it is Sahar Khalifeh...I highly recommend.""--World Literature Today ""Khalifeh is a first-class story-teller and, whatever your views on the political situation, she tells a first-class, albeit poignant story on love and loss in a period of war and oppression.""--The Modern Novel ""[The] writing is political and artistic. Political in the sense that it deals with national politics and sexual politics. At the same time, it is full of humane characters and enjoys a high amount of humor . . . meaningful and beautiful""--Middle East Monitor ""Written with an emotive urgency and prescience that the Palestinian struggle demands, Sahar Khalifeh's latest novel is a stunning, if earnest, reflection on the Palestinian sense of steadfastness, from love to resistance.""--The New Arab ""My First and Only Love is a poetic account of Palestinian resistance through the perspective of a young woman, Nadal. Returning to occupied Palestine, for the first time since the Nakba displaced her entire family, Nadal's journey in learning about her past is a moving, urgent exploration into history, political urgency, humanity, and home.""--Happy Media ""Epic . . . It is the bonds of respect, love, pride and dignity that connect the characters, however flawed their relationships, and however bleak their political landscape, that Sahar Khalifeh demonstrates so well in her writing.""--The Electronic Intifada ""Well worth the 10-year wait . . . [a] page-turner.""--The Washington Report ""Al-Khamis shows us the sounds and sights of a diverse Arab culture . . . and an occasional touch of Arabian magic reminiscent of A Thousand and One Nights.""--Historical Novels Review PRAISE FOR SAHAR KHALIFEH ""The best Arab woman novelist in the twentieth century.""--Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban ""Sahar Khalifeh is the Virginia Woolf of Palestinian literature.""--Börsenblatt ""Khalifeh is simply the greatest Palestinian novelist and one of the world's greatest historical novelists, ranking with Naguib Mahfouz, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, and Pramoedya Ananta Toer.""--James Holstun, University at Buffalo ""Khalifeh effectively paints a crazy world where individuals seek to lead normal lives under nightmarish conditions . . . .Highly recommended."" --Library Journal ""In Khalifeh's book, Palestinian Christians and Muslims, Jewish immigrants, and British colonial leaders are all treated with equal sympathy""--Women's Review of Books ""Incisively explores individual lives--particularly women's lives--in the years just before 1948.""--Marcia Lynx Qualey, Arabic Literature ""The author invokes a sacred heritage that remains at once vital and powerful.""--Dr. Abdel Moneim Tallima NAMED ONE OF THE 20 BEST BOOKS WRITTEN BY PALESTINIAN AUTHORS BY HAPPY MEDIA ""My First and Only Love is a great read for upper middle school and high school students who want to understand Palestinian history and culture."" -PBS Newshour Student Voices ""About falling in love across borders. . . . recommend[ed].""--Electric Literature ""[A] novel that removes the reader from a world dominated by ideology and partisan stances, into a lauding of heroism and human bravery; it sings the praises of the championship of ordinary citizens, especially during times of prevailing frustration. The story remains optimistic, in its content and its national and humanitarian mission . . . Khalifeh's narrative style is sensitive, thrifty, and transparent . . . Well done!""--Asymptote ""Khalifeh transcends the local struggles of the Palestinian protagonists to the more universal . . . If there is an Arabic novelist who deserves the Nobel Prize, after Naguib Mahfouz, it is Sahar Khalifeh...I highly recommend.""--World Literature Today ""Khalifeh is a first-class story-teller and, whatever your views on the political situation, she tells a first-class, albeit poignant story on love and loss in a period of war and oppression.""--The Modern Novel ""[The] writing is political and artistic. Political in the sense that it deals with national politics and sexual politics. At the same time, it is full of humane characters and enjoys a high amount of humor . . . meaningful and beautiful""--Middle East Monitor ""Written with an emotive urgency and prescience that the Palestinian struggle demands, Sahar Khalifeh's latest novel is a stunning, if earnest, reflection on the Palestinian sense of steadfastness, from love to resistance.""--The New Arab ""My First and Only Love is a poetic account of Palestinian resistance through the perspective of a young woman, Nadal. Returning to occupied Palestine, for the first time since the Nakba displaced her entire family, Nadal's journey in learning about her past is a moving, urgent exploration into history, political urgency, humanity, and home.""--Happy Media ""Epic . . . It is the bonds of respect, love, pride and dignity that connect the characters, however flawed their relationships, and however bleak their political landscape, that Sahar Khalifeh demonstrates so well in her writing.""--The Electronic Intifada ""Well worth the 10-year wait . . . [a] page-turner.""--The Washington Report ""Al-Khamis shows us the sounds and sights of a diverse Arab culture . . . and an occasional touch of Arabian magic reminiscent of A Thousand and One Nights.""--Historical Novels Review PRAISE FOR SAHAR KHALIFEH ""The best Arab woman novelist in the twentieth century.""--Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban ""Sahar Khalifeh is the Virginia Woolf of Palestinian literature.""--Böouml;rsenblatt ""Khalifeh is simply the greatest Palestinian novelist and one of the world's greatest historical novelists, ranking with Naguib Mahfouz, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, and Pramoedya Ananta Toer.""--James Holstun, University at Buffalo"

The best Arab woman novelist in the twentieth century. --Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban Khalifeh is simply the greatest Palestinian novelist and one of the world's greatest historical novelists, ranking with Naguib Mahfouz, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and Pramoedya Ananta Toer. --James Holstun, Professor of English, University at Buffalo Khalifeh effectively paints a crazy world where individuals seek to lead normal lives under nightmarish conditions . . . .Highly recommended. --Library Journal In Khalifeh's book, Palestinian Christians and Muslims, Jewish immigrants, and British colonial leaders are all treated with equal sympathy -- Women's Review of Books Incisively explores individual lives--particularly women's lives--in the years just before 1948. --Marcia Lynx Qualey, Arabic Literature The author invokes a sacred heritage that remains at once vital and powerful. --Dr. Abdel Moneim Tallima Sahar Khalifeh is the Virginia Woolf of Palestinian literature. -- Boersenblatt

Author Information

Sahar Khalifeh was born in Nablus in 1941 and is the author of eight novels, including Of Noble Origins (AUC Press, 2012). She holds a PhD in women’s studies and American literature from the University of Iowa. She divides her time between Amman and Nablus. Aida Bamia is professor emerita of Arabic language and literature at the University of Florida. She is the translator of a number of Arabic novels, including Heart of the Night by Naguib Mahfouz (AUC Press, 2011).

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