The novel is told from the perspective of an ordinary man, a schoolteacher of Arabic in Aleppo for whom even daily errands become a life-threatening task. (112 pages)

Set at the end of Saddam Hussein's brutal reign, the novel follows Narjis, a young Iraqi woman, on her quest to discover what has become of the man she loves. (202 pages)

Set in middle-class urban Egypt, the story chronicles young Wafaa's struggle to come to terms with her own sexuality and her romantic infatuation with her cousin Ashraf, a spoiled and confident young Egyptian who was educated in England. (176 pages)

A striking portrait of a marginalized Egyptian community, bringing to life the absurd and tragic characters who occupy the margins of society while paying tribute to a historical Cairene neighborhood. (148 pages)

A young teacher visits the coastal city of Essaouira in the 1960s. There he meets a group of European bohemians and local Moroccans and is exposed to the grittier side of society. (121 pages)

Hassan makes a living in his native Marrakesh as a comic writer and performer, through satirical sketches critical of Morocco's rulers. Yet, when he is suddenly conscripted into a losing war in the Sahara, and drafted to a far-flung desert outpost, it seems that all is lost. (134 pages)

Spring, 1990. After years of searching in vain, a stranger passes a scrap of paper to Zina. It's from Aziz: the man who vanished the day after their wedding almost two decades ago. It propels Zina on a final quest for a secret desert jail in southern Morocco, where her husband crouches in despair, dreaming of his former life. (144 pages)

When he first showed up at Captain Ali's run-down boxing club, Saed was mocked for his bourgeois manners then humiliated in the ring. After barely a year of training, he has been consumed by the world of boxing and tipped for greatness. As his star rises, Saed is faced with the challenger he came for, but at what cost? (151 pages)

Opens with the return of Khalid Bakhit, a government employee, to his hometown in Oman after a time away in the big city, and concludes with his return to the city with a new maturity born of a series of wrenching encounters with reality. (160 pages)

On the eve of Salma's twenty-first birthday, scattered friends and family converge on New York for a celebration organized by Darwish, her obstinate grandfather. (102 pages)

Palestinian-Armenian Ivana eloped with a British doctor in the 1940s, in the midst of the Nakba, and emigrated to England. Over half a century later, her daughter Julie has been tasked with Ivana's dying wish: to take her ashes back to their old home in Acre. She and her husband Walid leave London and embark on a journey to Palestine. (156 pages)

Twin sisters Randa and Lamis live in the besieged Gaza Strip. Inseparable to the point that even their mother cannot tell them apart, they grow up surrounded by the random carnage that characterizes life under occupation. (82 pages)

After ten years in Paris, Galal returns to Cairo, where he finds a society in transformation. Egypt is Galal's home, but he feels he no longer belongs there. He is caught between his two identities: his Jewish mother's family are cosmopolitan business people, while his father's family are rural farmers from the Delta. (147 pages)

In a small Lebanese village a disillusioned imam, diagnosed with terminal cancer, must face his demons. (179 pages)

An intimate glimpse into Egyptian Christian life and, with sensitivity and honesty, tells of the struggles faced by an artist who seeks to remain true to his calling. (126 pages)

In his year away from home Mutazz learns how diverse the world is, but returning to Cairo is a shock that tests his physical and mental strength. Only when he passes that test can he make a promising new start. (142 pages)

Set over a single day, The Baghdad Eucharist is an intimate story of love, memory, and anguish in one Christian family. (80 pages)

Bahiah Shaheen, an eighteen-year-old medical student and the daughter of a prominent Egyptian public official, finds the male students in her class coarse and alien. Her father, too, seems to belong to a race apart. Frustrated by her hard-working, well-behaved, middle-class public persona, her meeting with a stranger at a gallery one day sparks her journey of self-discovery and of the realization that fulfilment in life is indeed possible. (78 pages)