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The poor, the dispossessed, the opportunist -- all flock to the newly oil-rich state of Barqais in search of wealth. A Woman of Five Seasons vividly explores the relations that develop in such countries between local high officials and incoming heartland Arabs. Alongside this a second, highly relevant theme is developed: the poignant coming of age of the Arab woman as she seeks, in the face of traditionally exploitative Arab male attitudes, to win a degree of independence and fulfillment.
About the author
Palestinian Leila al-Atrash is one of the leading novelists and short story writers of the Arab world. She began her career as a journalist and press reporter and, later, as a TV news anchor in Qatar. Her novels include The Sun Rises from the West (1988), An Ordinary Day (1991), Two Nights and the Shadow of a Woman (1997), and The Neighing of Distances (1999), which all probe questions of feminine liberation and selfhood. This is her first novel to be translated into English. Born in Palestine of Lebanese origin, Nora Nweihid Halwani now lives in Beirut. She is a scholar specializing in Arabic literature, author of a collection of short stories, and editor of the feminist magazine Al-Mar’a al-Jadida. Christopher Tingley was born in Brighton, England, and educated at the universities of London and Leeds. He has translated or co-translated many novels, poems, and short stories from the Arabic, among them Yusuf al-Qaid’s novel War in the Land of Egypt and the poetry for the two-volume Trends and Movements in Modern Arabic Poetry.
