Silken Gazelles by Jokha Alharthi

Translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth

Silken Gazelles is a translated work of literary fiction that demands slow and careful attention while reading to catch all the beauty. Jokha Alharthi’s previous Booker Prize winning novel, Celestial Bodies was the first novel by a female Omani author to be translated into English, so that is an amazing feat.

We look back on a childhood friendship between Ghazaala and Asiya, “milk sisters” and the devastation that Ghazaala feels when Asiya is forced to leave their small village after a terrible accident. Ghazaala moves through life haunted, never forgetting the deep connection they shared. We look further into their lives, as they grow further apart, through marriages, divorces, love, children, and time.

This is a meditation on connection, love, and loneliness.

Ghazaala finds friendship with a new friend, Harir, that she meets at college. Ghazaala is a young mother struggling with her decisions and we watch the overlapping of a past bond that neither woman is aware of. This is a meditation on connection, love, and loneliness. Alharthi writes sensual, careful prose that manages to surpass levels and barriers, making the boredom of daily life seem exquisite. The ghosts of past relationships, friendships and lovers haunt each page, causing you to think about your own journeys through this strange life.

This is beautifully written literature, literature that helps us understand our world. This being the first thing I have read set in Oman, it was eye opening, and reminds me why I love literature and reading in the first place — to learn about people and the world, and to understand it better. A great choice for anyone who likes literary fiction, growing world empathy, and beautifully written prose.

JOKHA ALHARTHI is the first Omani woman to have a novel translated into English. Her previous novel, Celestial Bodies, was the first book translated from the Arabic to win the International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize). Alharthi is the author of three previous collections of short fiction, three children’s books, and three novels in Arabic. Narinjah (The Bitter Orange Tree) received the Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Art, and Literature. She completed a Ph.D. in Classical Arabic poetry in Edinburgh and teaches at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat.

MARILYN BOOTH is Emerita Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud Chair for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World at Oxford University. In addition to her academic publications, she has translated many works of fiction from the Arabic. Recent titles include No Road to Paradise by Hassan Daoud, Bitter Orange Tree by Jokha Alharthi, Voices of the Lost by Hoda Barakat, and one of the first Arabic novels to be penned by a female author, Alice Butrus al-Bustani’s Sa’iba, forthcoming in Oxford World’s Classics. Her translation of Alharthi’s Celestial Bodies won the 2019 International Booker Prize

Publisher: Anansi International (Aug 13, 2024)
Paperback 5.25″ x 8″ | 272 pages
ISBN: 9781487012083