Alaa is haunted by his grandmother’s memories of being displaced from Jaffa and becoming a refugee in her homeland after the Nakba. Ariel, Alaa’s neighbour and friend, is a liberal Zionist, critical of the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza yet faithful to the project of Israel. When he wakes up one morning to find that all Palestinians have suddenly vanished, Ariel begins searching for clues to the secret of their collective disappearance.

That search, and Ariel’s reactions to it, intimately reveal the fissures at the heart of the Palestinian question. Between the stories of Alaa and Ariel are the people of Jaffa and Tel Aviv – café patrons, radio commentators, flower-cutters – against whose ordinary lives these fissures and questions play out.

Critically acclaimed in Arabic, spare yet evocative, intensely intelligent in its interplay of perspectives, The Book of Disappearance is an unforgettable glimpse into contemporary Palestine as it grapples with both the memory of loss and the loss of memory.

‘A book of prophecy. A book of reckoning. A book of gut-wrenching monstrosities and of profound tenderness. In this study of grief and love, state violence and wild self-delusions, Azem fearlessly looks into the void and calls out both its causes, its costs, and its lasting effects. The Book of Disappearance is a heartbreaking, awe-inspiring, genre-defying achievement.’ Preti Taneja

 

‘Seductively bold … This rich, potent novel reminds us that there are no easy answers.’  John Self, Guardian

And Other Stories, 2024, 224pages.