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The 2013 Winners are In!



Daunt Books Children's Short Story Competition 2013

Middle East

• Turkey
• Syria
• Lebanon
• Jordan
• Israel
• Palestine
• Iraq
• Iran
• Saudi Arabia
• Gulf
• Yemen

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  To the End of the Land

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Rave reviews accompanied the publication of this novel and with good reason. Fearing her son may be killed on the frontline and dreading the knock of the notifiers on her front door, an Israeli mother flees her home and journeys to Galilee. Caught up in this epic story are Grossman's own feelings about the war, the many who have died and what it means to live in the state of Israel today. Brilliant stuff.

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  Honour by Elif Shafak

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  From Elif Shafak, acclaimed author of The Bastard of Istanbul, comes another haunting, vivid tale of the relationship between rapidly modernising but still deeply traditional Turkey, and the liberal (overly-liberal?) ways of Western Europe. Leaving her twin sister behind, Pembe leaves Turkey for love - following her husband Adem to London. There the Topraks hope to make new lives for themselves and their children. Yet, no matter how far they travel, the traditions and beliefs the Topraks left behind stay with them - carried in the blood.

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  The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse

  Price: £16.99    Add to Basket

  A comprehensive, bilingual anthology of Hebrew poetry from 'The Song of Deborah' to contemporary Israeli work.

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  Gilgamesh

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  Written on clay tablets over four thousand years old, this is the world's oldest epic describing the adventures of Gilgamesh and his search for the secret to immortality.

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  Kingdom of Strangers by Zoe Ferraris

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  The third novel by Zoe Ferraris to feature the beautiful and brilliant detective Katya Hijazi, as she pursues a psychopathic killer through modern day Jeddah. Ferraris's forensic thrillers are brought to be life by her psychological insight and realistic sense of place, from the shanti towns to the bourgeois salons of Saudi's second largest city.

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  City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris

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  The sequel to Night of the Mi'raj is another totally original, modern crime novel set in Saudi Arabia.

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  The Silence and The Roar by Nihad Sirees

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  A powerful, life-affirming novel about a censored writer living in Middle Eastern dictatorship. As the crowds prepare for a parade Fathi tries to make his way about the city as on any normal day - an individual so a traitor. This is a personal, urgent, funny and aggrieved novel written by a brilliant Syrian novelist, now living and writing in exile.

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  A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers

  Price: £18.99    Add to Basket

  Dave Egger's (McSweeny's, What is the What, Zeitoun) new novel, finally released in the UK, has been well worth the wait. Set in Saudi Arabia, as a lonely American Businessman tries desperately to hold his family together as the financial world he once mastered collapses around him. Another stunning complement to this young American author's compelling series of books that reflect our times.

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  The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  A rich and colourful novel set in a house where the family of Aqa Jaan have lived for generations. A Persian family caught between the old world and the new, their lives change beyond recognition with the fall of the Shah and the return of the Ayatollah.

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  A Girl Made of Dust by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi

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  The story of a normal eight year old girl, growing up in a village outside Beirut in the 1980s. Her life will change beyond recognition, however, because Israeli troops are moving closer and she can already hear the sounds of gunfire. A heart-breaking book which brings a distant conflict to life and gives it the face of an innocent little girl.

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  The Belt by Ahmed Abodehman

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  Ahmed, growing up in a small village in Saudi Arabia, struggles to maintain a balanced relationship with his tribe, Islam, his family ties and his yearning for modernity and the city. Not only a coming of age story, but Ahmed Abodehman describes the difficulties for both the boy and his country in their attempts to move forwards without destroying their past.

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  Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa

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  One of the first mainstream novels to explore life in post 1948 Palestine. Harrowing, at times excessively so, and often disappointingly Anglo-American in its style, it is however a beautifully written family saga which sheds a much needed light on the everyday life of Palestinians.

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  Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  A light-hearted novel about a set of upper-class Saudi Arabian girls torn between modernity and strict cultural traditions. Offers a realistic and human insight into the women of this closed Middle Eastern world.

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  Many and Many a Year Ago by Selcuk Altun

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  An entertaining, somewhat ridiculous mystery set in the streets of Istanbul, where a Turkish ex-fighter pilot must track down the missing son of a Russian nobleman.

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  The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani

  Price: £6.99    Add to Basket

  Set in 17th century Iran, a village girl thrown into servitude by her father's death becomes a talented Persian carpet designer until a reckless act threatens her with disgrace. A passionate, evocative story about the search for happiness and love.

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  Skylark Farm by Antonia Arslan

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  Set in 1915 in an idyllic town in Anatolia, Arslan's family saga takes a violent and dismal turn as she describes the horrors of the Armenian genocide. Engaging and informative.

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  Birds without Wings by Louis de Bernieres

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  Long but always gripping novel set in central Anatolia as the calamity of the Greek invasion and establishment of the Turkish state ripped apart a small town where Christian and Muslim had lived together in peace for centuries. Recommended.

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  Whirlwind by James Clavell

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  James Clavell brings his usual epic, entertaining style to a story of the Iranian revolution. A team of pilots is caught up in the violence and confusion of the moment, caught between their loyalties to Iran and their duty. A 1000-page novel covering danger, romance and international political intrigue.

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  The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther

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  An emotional yet enthralling novel about the meaning of home, it tells the story of the stubborn and independent Maryam who fights for a different future than the one her traditional Iranian father, a general in the Shah's army, has imagined for her. She will pay dearly for this rebellion and forced into exile from both her past and her homeland, she will lose part of her soul.

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  A Persian Requiem by Simin Danishvar

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  Zari and her husband live in Southern Iran during the British occupation, struggling to uphold their way of life and protect their family from corruption. A powerful and emotional novel that evokes traditional Iran and exposes the devastating impact of colonisation.

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  The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

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  A passionate novel about womanhood among the desert tribes of the Old Testament, Anita Diamant retells the grief-stricken story of Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah mentioned briefly in the Book of Genesis.

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  Desert Air by Eland

  Price: £5.99    Add to Basket

  A collection of poems which celebrate the desert from pre-Islamic songs to Coleridge.
  
  "Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
  And waste its sweetness on the desert air."

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  Istanbul by Eland

  Price: £5.99    Add to Basket

  Poems selected by Ates Orga celebrating Istanbul with a foreword by Jason Goodwin.
  
  "That is no country for old men. The young,
  In one another's arms, birds in the trees,
  - Those dying generations - at their song."

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  Voices of Arabia by Eland

  Price: £6.99    Add to Basket

  A selection of poetry at the heart of Arabic culture from 600 until 1,000 AD.
  
  "If a man keeps his honour free from the slightest stain,
  Then any robe he cloaks himself in is beautiful to see."

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  Persian Poems by Everyman

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  One in the series of small, hardback poetry books from Everyman, this beautifully-produced collection of Persian poems includes the work of Rumi, Omar and Hafez.