From start to finish, her dynamic prose and seemingly effortless storytelling create an original narrative of love, intrigue, and family/global dynamics. Abu-Jaber's rich characters live and breathe around you, and her nuance and wit bring the largest themes to irresistible, present life.-Claire Messud, author of The Burning Girlĭiana Abu-Jaber outdoes herself with this brilliantly paced and utterly absorbing novel. (And fencing with King Hussein)-Elizabeth Taylor, co-author of American PharaohĪ delicate arabesque of intertwining family relationships, Fencing with the King probes the cost of exile and voluntary expatriation, asking: When is inheritance a blessing, and when is it merely a burden?-Geraldine Brooks, author of The Secret ChordĪ rare pleasure. enthralling novel of Jordan's history, glory and authoritarian impulses, stratified class structure, and fraught family dynamics. builds to an unforgettable denouement that juxtaposes the tragedies of inheritance and displacement.-Lorraine W. Shot through with warmth and vitality, intelligence and spirit, it is absorbing and satisfying on every level, a wise and rare literary treat.Ību-Jaber beautifully captures the essence of Jordan, poised as it is between modernity and ancient ways. With sharp insight into modern politics and family dynamics, taboos around mental illness, and our inescapable relationship to the past, Fencing with the King asks how we contend with inheritance: familial and cultural, hidden and openly contested. In a sibling rivalry that carries ancient echoes, the Hamdan brothers must face a reckoning, with themselves and with each other-one that almost costs Amani her life. Her words hint at a long-kept family secret, carefully guarded by Uncle Hafez, an advisor to the King, who has quite personal reasons for inviting his brother to the birthday party. Her father's past is a mystery to her-even more so since she found a poem on blue airmail paper slipped into one of his old Arabic books, written by his mother, a Palestinian refugee who arrived in Jordan during World War I.
The King of Jordan is turning 60! How better to celebrate the occasion than with his favorite pastime-fencing-and with his favorite sparring partner, Gabriel Hamdan, who must be enticed back from America, where he lives with his wife and his daughter, Amani.Īmani, a divorced poet, jumps at the chance to accompany her father to his homeland for the King's birthday. About the Book One of The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of the MonthĪ mesmerizing breakthrough novel of family myths and inheritances by the award-winning author of Crescent.
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