Enter Ghost
WINNER OF THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE - Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction - A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book of the Year
"Isabella Hammad is a master of subtle nuance." -- New York Times
After years away from her family's homeland, and reeling from a disastrous love affair, actress Sonia Nasir returns to Haifa to visit her older sister Haneen. This is her first trip back since the second intifada and the deaths of their grandparents: while Haneen made a life here commuting to Tel Aviv to teach at the university, Sonia remained in London to focus on her acting career and now dissolute marriage. On her return, she finds her relationship to Palestine is fragile, both bone-deep and new.
At Haneen's, Sonia meets the charismatic and candid Mariam, a local director, and finds herself roped into a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. Sonia is soon rehearsing Gertude's lines in Classical Arabic and spending more time in Ramallah than Haifa, along with a dedicated group of men from all over historic Palestine who, in spite of competing egos and priorities, each want to bring Shakespeare to that side of the wall. As opening night draws closer it becomes clear just how many violent obstacles stand before a troupe of Palestinian actors. Amidst it all, the life Sonia once knew starts to give way to the daunting, exhilarating possibility of finding a new self in her ancestral home.
A stunning rendering of present-day Palestine, Enter Ghost is a story of diaspora, displacement, and the connection to be found in family and shared resistance. Timely, thoughtful, and passionate, Isabella Hammad's highly anticipated second novel is an exquisite feat, an unforgettable story of artistry under occupation.
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''Outstanding. Next-level. Aesthetically, intellectually, emotionally and culturally satisfying. It is astonishing but true that Isabella Hammad is incapable of striking a false note. She immerses her heroine in volatile territory with the accuracy, compassion and coolness of a surgical knife sliding into a diseased body. The result is a stunning beauty - an eye-opening, uplifting novel that grants its vulnerable cast and their endeavors a rare and graceful dignity.'' -- Leila Aboulela, author of River Spirit
Praise for The Parisian
"Dazzling... A deeply imagined historical novel with none of the usual cobwebs of the genre... The Parisian has an up-close immediacy and stylistic panache... that are all the more impressive coming from a London-born writer still in her 20s... Exquisite."--New York Times Book Review
"Assured and captivating... Ms. Hammad's acute evocation of place and personality ensures that we are never lost... This agile writer sets us firmly in place, fixing our attention on intersecting lives."--Wall Street Journal
"Hammad is a natural storyteller... The Parisian teems with riches - love, war, betrayal and madness - and marks the arrival of a bright new talent."--Guardian"Stunning...a lush rendering of Palestinian life a century ago under the British mandate and a sumptuous epic about the enduring nature of love."―Vogue"Epic... Because the book takes place in the complicated time and spaces that it does, the narrative grapples with sociopolitical concerns as well as it does the intimate, human ones. It sweeps you along."--Vanity Fair"Lavish, leisurely and immersive."--Economist"Hammad is a writer of startling talent."―Observer"Hammad uses the features of historical novels to cut through the familiar dichotomies of West and Near East, placing her protagonist in a rich web of families, political intrigues, and cultural exchanges, and subtly reconfiguring the literary tropes of 'home' and 'abroad.'"--New Yorker
