Women of Sand and Myrrh

Women of Sand and Myrrh is a novel written by Hanan al-Shaykh. It was originally published in 1989 as Misk al-ghazal (مسك الغزال) and was published in English in 1992. The English translator is Catherine Cobham. Publishers Weekly chose Women of Sand and Myrrh as one of the 50 best books of 1992.The storyline consists of four main characters: Suha, Tamr, Nur, and Suzanne. Different sections of the novel give the perspectives of the four women, making the book a story with four different narrators.The story is based in a relatively modern society in the Middle East. Rather than having strong ties into the pre-20th century Middle East, it is representative of life in some of the more fundamentalist societies within the last few decades. Elements...