Information
Jokha Alharthi’s elegantly structured and taut novel tells of Oman’s coming-of-age through the prism of one family’s losses and loves. Translated by Marilyn Booth.
In the village of al-Awafi in Oman, we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla who rejects all offers while waiting for her beloved, who has emigrated to Canada. These three women and their families witness Oman evolve from a traditional, slave-owning society which is slowly redefining itself after the colonial era, to the crossroads of its complex present.
Jokha Alharthi
About the Author
Jokha Alharthi, also spelt al-Harthi, is an Omani writer and academic. She is best known for her novel published in English under the title Celestial Bodies.
Marilyn Booth
About the Translator
Marilyn Booth was born in Boston, USA. She translated the 2019 International Booker Prize-winning novel Celestial Bodies from Arabic.Jokha Alharthi on writing
‘Literature, in my opinion, should explore the mysteries of our existence, it should ask questions and not give answers, and it should never reiterate what is already known or told. Literature should illuminate our existence as humans, it should help us become less superficial and judgmental, it should teach us without preaching to us.’
Read the full interview here.
Jokha Alharthi
© Simone Padovani/Awakening/Getty ImagesWhat the judges said
‘Through the different tentacles of people’s lives and loves and losses we come to learn about this society – all its degrees, from the very poorest of the slave families working there to those making money through the advent of a new wealth in Oman and Muscat. It starts in a room and ends in a world. We felt we were getting access to ideas and thoughts and experiences you aren’t normally given in English. It avoids every stereotype you might expect in its analysis of gender and race and social distinction and slavery. There are surprises throughout. We fell in love with it.’
What the critics said
Michael Cronin, The Irish Times
‘The writing is teasingly elliptical throughout and there is a kind of poetic understatement that draws the reader into the domestic settings and public tribulations of the three sisters … Celestial Bodies deftly undermines recurrent stereotypes about Arab language and cultures but most importantly brings a distinctive and important new voice to world literature.’
Marcia Lynx Qualey, The National
‘The book scorns romanticised history and happily-ever-afters. Individual characters are often taunted when they use romance as a way of understanding the world … Celestial Bodies never actually gets to the ‘ever after.’ Instead, it continually re-evaluates both present and past. And while the book doesn’t tell us how things turn out, it skillfully builds suspense by creating ‘Aha!’ moments as characters come to better understand their pasts.’
John Domini, The Brooklyn Rail
‘Celestial Bodies delivers a cornucopia, the drama tasty whether it concerns a long day of overwrought celebration, scented with incense and envy, or a midnight tryst in the desert, mixing torment and ecstasy. Juggling multiple perspectives, eschewing straightforward chronology, the narrative coheres nevertheless … Overall, as in some sprawling canvas by Brueghel, tragedy strikes a balance with better, and both outcomes bear out Khalid’s discovery: the shocking power of old-country ties, buried but bristling with life.’
Stephenie Harrison, Bookpage
‘Complex and challenging, Alharthi’s novel is less interested in chasing happily ever afters than in exploring Oman’s history of slavery, its cultural and class dynamics and the power of its women within a shifting but resolute patriarchy […] Readers will have to work to assemble a cohesive portrait from the beautifully rendered puzzle pieces that Alharthi has scattered before them, but their efforts will be rewarded with a deeply immersive and enlightening reading experience.’
‘The great strength of the novel lies in the ways this change is shown not as a steady progression from old to new but as a far more complicated series of small-scale transitions […] A richly layered, ambitious work that teems with human struggles and contradictions, providing fascinating insight into Omani history and society.’
