Minor Detail

Synopsis

Set against the enduring legacy of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, Minor Detail unfolds in two interconnected narratives separated by decades. In the first, Israeli soldiers stationed in the Negev Desert carry out a brutal military operation in 1949 that culminates in the killing of a young Palestinian Bedouin woman. In the second, a woman living in present-day Ramallah becomes consumed by the historical record of the crime after discovering it occurred on the very day she was born, leading her on a quiet but perilous search for the truth.

Spare, haunting, and formally precise, Minor Detail is a profound meditation on memory, violence, and the ways history continues to shape the present. Adania Shibli's remarkable novel explores absence, displacement, and the lasting consequences of conflict through restrained, luminous prose, creating one of the most powerful works of contemporary Palestinian literature.

About the Author

Adania Shibli is a Palestinian novelist, playwright, and essayist whose work has been widely translated and internationally acclaimed for its stylistic precision and political insight. Minor Detail was a finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature and longlisted for the International Booker Prize. It is translated from the Arabic by Elisabeth Jaquette.

Publisher
New Directions

Publication Date
May 12, 2020

Format
Paperback

Pages
128

Subjects
Literary Fiction · Translated Fiction · Palestinian Literature · Contemporary Fiction

ISBN
9780811229074