Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands

Award-winning tales of a young woman's travel adventures across perilous deserts, seas and empires

In a tent at the foot of a mountain in Palestine, hundreds of years ago, our storyteller and her twin sister are born. Her newlywed parents name her Qamar (Moon), and her sister Shams (Sun). Their small caravan is journeying from the mother’s city back to the father’s remote ancestral village atop the mountain.

This village suffers from isolation—and a curse, which her young family tries to undo. But when both parents’ lives are cut short, Qamar and her sister are left orphans. And so, Qamar decides to pursue her mother’s and father’s dreams of discovering the world—its people,...