![]() ![]() Vast stretches of barren hills rose in layers up to the sky, trembling silently under the heft of the mirage, while the harsh afternoon sunlight blurred the outlines of the pale yellow ridges. We are transported to the Negev desert, a region scorched by the blistering sun, where the heat moves in waves giving the impression of a shifting mirage. ![]() The first part begins one year after the war mentioned above, in the summer of 1949. The novel is essentially structured into two sections of more or less equal length. It forms the backdrop against which the author Adania Shibli sets her story. In the book we are told this – The war in 1948 was labeled the War of Independence by the Israelis, while Palestine mourned this very war likening it to a catastrophe that led to the displacement of some 700,000 Palestinians. Minor Detail is an intense, searing novella of war, violence, memory and erasure at the heart of which lies the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Having finally given her book a try, I can say that it is very, very good. ![]() Adania Shibli’s Minor Detail was also released last year, and my interest was piqued after I heard her speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Both found a place on my Best Books of 2020 list. Some of my favourite books last year were published by Fitzcarraldo Editions – Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor and The Other Name by Jon Fosse. ![]()
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