Books from Palestine

In the final years of British-ruled Palestine, Jerusalem’s privileged elite continue to enjoy their comfortable lives while the world around them edges towards catastrophe. When Maliha al-Ghal’s husband, a prominent Palestinian politician, is deported by the British, her carefully ordered existence begins to unravel. Her friend Violet Dhaishi, meanwhile, remains absorbed in social gatherings, shopping, and a secret affair with a British officer, oblivious to the escalating violence threatening their society. As bombings multiply and political tensions intensify, the Palestinian upper classes cling to their privilege, reluctant to acknowledge the forces gathering against them. Through interwoven lives, personal betrayals, and political intrigue, Soraya Antonius exposes the dangerous complacency of a society unable to recognise its impending dispossession. Both an intimate portrait of pre-Nakba Palestine and a fierce critique of colonial power and social privilege, Where the Jinn Consult captures the tragic distance between a world people believe will endure and the one they are about to lose.