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A Palestinian family’s struggles with the issues of identity and a contested homeland in post-World War I Palestine under the British Mandate
The Qahtan are a Palestinian family that claims to have originated in the Arabian Peninsula, descended from the family of the Prophet Muhammad. This connection has given its members a certain ascendancy in their society, and has influenced their cultural and political choices.
The true test occurs when the Qahtanis, like other Palestinians, confront two enemies after the First World War: the British Mandate and the Zionist movement. Observing the gradual and increasing illegal Jewish immigration and land appropriation, the Palestinians come to realize they have been betrayed by a power that “fulfilled their promises to the Jews and reneged on their promises to the Arabs.”
Sahar Khalifeh brings to the forefront the inner conflicts of Palestinian society as it struggles to affirm its cultural and national identity, save its threatened homeland, and maintain a semblance of normalcy in otherwise abnormal circumstances.
“Of Noble Origins by Sahar Khalifeh delves deep into the historical and societal roots of the Palestinian struggle, particularly focusing on the events surrounding the Palestinian strike in 1936.”—Riyadh Review of Books
“A complex novel by a renowned Palestinian author about a family from Nablus living through the British governance of the country and its growing Jewish colonization after the World War I. . . . I strongly recommend this important book.”—Me, You, and Books
"[I]n Khalifeh's book Palestinian Christians and Muslims, Jewish immigrants, and British colonial leaders are all treated with equal sympathy. The British Mandate governor is not just an owner or master; indeed, he is a complex character who is half in love with a Palestinian Christian. Most of the book's Jewish characters are similarly complex."—Women’s Review of Books
PRAISE FOR SAHAR KHALIFEH
“The best Arab woman novelist in the twentieth century.”—Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban
“Sahar Khalifeh is the Virginia Woolf of Palestinian literature.”—Börsenblatt
"Khalifeh is simply the greatest Palestinian novelist and one of the world’s greatest historical novelists, ranking with Naguib Mahfouz, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, and Pramoedya Ananta Toer.”—James Holstun, University at Buffalo
“Khalifeh effectively paints a crazy world where individuals seek to lead normal lives under nightmarish conditions . . . .Highly recommended.” —Library Journal
"Incisively explores individual lives—particularly women’s lives—in the years just before 1948.”—Marcia Lynx Qualey, Arabic Literature
“The author invokes a sacred heritage that remains at once vital and powerful.”—Dr. Abdel Moneim Tallima