**LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMENS PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024**

Reeling from a disastrous love affair, actress Sonia Nasir finds love and hope in Shakespeare and Palestine.

A vital storyteller
ALI SMITH

After years away from her familys homeland, and reeling from a disastrous love affair, actress Sonia Nasir returns to Haifa to visit her older sister Haneen. On her arrival, she finds her relationship to Palestine is fragile, both bone-deep and new.

When Sonia meets the charismatic Mariam, a local director, she joins a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. Soon, Sonia is rehearsing with a dedicated, if competitive, group of men yet as opening night draws closer, it becomes clear just how many obstacles stand before the troupe. Amidst it all, the life she once knew starts to give way to the exhilarating possibility of finding a new self in her ancestral home.

A novel to savour
SUNDAY TIMES

Captivatingdeeply moving
HARPERS BAZAAR

Powerful Hammad is a pretty flawless writer
THE TIMES

A GRANTA BEST YOUNG BRITISH NOVELIST

* A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST AND VULTURE *