The Parisian
Palestine

The Parisian

by Isabella Hammad

History Historical Fiction 2019

Summary

A young Palestinian man leaves home to study in France, believing the world is full of possibilities. But as war reshapes Europe and colonial rule transforms his homeland, Midhat Kamal discovers that belonging is far more complicated than he imagined. Beginning in 1914, this sweeping historical novel follows Midhat from the salons of Montpellier and Paris to Nablus, where British rule and rising nationalist movements challenge everything he thought he knew. Torn between cultures, romantic ideals, and conflicting loyalties, he must find his place in a world on the brink of transformation. Rich in historical detail and intimate human drama, The Parisian explores how personal lives become entangled with the making of nations—and how the past continues to shape the present.

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Country
Palestine
Asia
About the author
Isabella Hammad
Isabella Hammad

Isabella Hammad is a British-Palestinian novelist whose work explores history, displacement, identity, and the complexities of Palestinian life. Born in London to a Palestinian father and a British mother, she studied English literature at Oxford University before earning an MFA from New York University. Her debut novel, The Parisian (2019), follows a Palestinian man navigating the political and cultural transformations of the early twentieth century. The book won the Palestine Book Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Betty Trask Award. Her second novel, Enter Ghost (2023), received the Aspen Words Literary Prize and the Royal Society of Literature’s Encore Award and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Hammad has also received prestigious literary fellowships and was named one of Granta magazine’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2023. Her writing has appeared in publications including The Paris Review and The New York Times.

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Details
Published
2019
Author
Isabella Hammad