Mahjar
Allen&Unwin 2003

Winner of the Steele Rudd Literary Award 2004. Shortlisted Federation of Australian Writers Christina Stead Award 2004 Zein, Farhan, Rayya and their circle are migrants of the fifties, yearning for both their future and their past. Their children, Salah, Rima, Hussein and their friends are young Australians with a distinctive voice and place, succeeding or failing in the clash between generations, struggling for independence in the face of their parent’s hopes and dreams. Abd al-Rahman is an Iraqi refugee who has lost everything. And Ali, Ahmad, Akram and Yusuf are children in Palestine and Baghdad who have no future but whose stories soar. Mahjar is about lives, journeys and stories, about exile and the experiences that push people to new homelands. Through interwoven stories and fables, it evokes Australia’s intimate connection with the Middle East. Mahjar is in some way for and about all Australians. "In Mahjar, Sallis wields her great gifts of empathy and eloquence to render human beings in full unflinching detail. It is a book of journeys, passionate and powerful." Geraldine Brooks "In Mahjar … Sallis has established herself as a major new talent. Her stories are like drawings done with quick, swift brush strokes. Piquant and compassionate, they amuse, inform, entertain and wound us to the very heart.’ David Wood To buy a copy click here