August 2023 MBR The Literary Fiction Shelf

The Literary Fiction Shelf

Suleiman's Ring
Sherif Meleka, author
Raymond Stock, translator
Hoopoe Books
www.hoopoebooks.com
c/o American University in Cairo Press
200 Park Avenue, Suite 1700, New York, NY 10166
www.aucpress.com
9781649032058, $49.95, HC, 308pp

https://www.amazon.com/Suleimans-Ring-Novel-Hoopoe-Fiction/dp/1649032056

Synopsis: In Alexandria, Egypt, and on the eve of the 1952 Free Officers revolution, Dawud (who is a struggling musician), is summoned with his best friend Sheikh Hassanein to a meeting with Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser, who seeks their help as he mobilizes for the revolution.

Dawud lends Nasser an enchanted silver ring for its powers to bring good luck. The revolution succeeds but Dawud soon grows estranged from his friend Hassanein, who has joined the Muslim Brotherhood, after he suggests that Dawud leave Egypt since as a Jew he is no longer welcome.

When Hassanein is arrested, however, destiny draws Dawud into a complex web of sexual intrigue and betrayal that threatens to upend his already precarious existence.

Set against the backdrop of the simmering political tensions of mid-twentieth-century Egypt and the Arab-Israeli wars, Sherif Meleka's story of fate and fortune transports us to another time and place while peeling back the curtain on events that still haunt the country to this day.

Can one man or a mere ring alter the events of one's life and the history of a country? Combining elements of magical realism with momentous history, Suleiman's Ring poses these questions and more in a gripping tale of friendship, identity, and the fate of a nation.

Critique: Impressively translated into English for an American readership by Raymond Stock, "Suleiman's Ring" by Sherif Meleka will have a very special appeal to readers with an interest in contemporary Jewish/Islamic fiction. Original, carefully crafted, memorable, "Suleiman's Ring" is a prized and recommended addition to community, college, and university library Literary Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Suleiman's Ring" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781649032041, $18.57, www.amazon.com) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $17.64).

Editorial Note #1: Sherif Meleka was born in 1958 into a Coptic Christian family in Alexandria, Egypt. A trained medical doctor, he emigrated to the United States in 1984. He is the author of numerous novels, poetry and short story collections in Arabic. Suleiman's Ring is his English-language debut. He currently lives in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.

Editorial Note #2: Raymond Stock is senior instructor of Arabic at Louisiana State University with a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Pennsylvania (2008). A former resident of Cairo (1990-2010), he has translated seven books and many short stories by Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006), including Before the Throne, Khufu's Wisdom, The Coffeehouse (all AUC Press).

Cocktail
Lisa Alward
https://www.lisaalward.com
Biblioasis
www.biblioasis.com
9781771965620, $16.95, PB, 224pp

https://www.amazon.com/Cocktail-Lisa-Alward/dp/1771965622

Synopsis: With the publication of "Cocktails", Canadian author Lisa Alward shares her carefully crated short stories about: A girl receives a bedtime visit from a drunken party guest, who will haunt her fantasies for years. A young mother discovers underneath the wallpaper a striking portrait that awakens inconvenient desires. A divorced man distracts himself from the mess he's made by flirting with a stranger.

These intimate, immersive short stories explore life's watershed moments, in which seemingly insignificant details (a pot of hyacinths, a freshly painted yellow wall) and the most chance of encounters come to exert a tidal pull.

Set in the swinging sixties and each decade since, the stories comprising "Cocktail" reveals the schism between the lives we build up around us and our deepest hidden selves.

Critique: Comprised of exception works of literary and emotional precision, "Cocktails" showcases author Lisa Alward's genuine and imaginative flair for the kind of narrative driven storytelling style that is as engaging as it is memorable. While an especially and unreservedly recommended pick for community, college, and university library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Cocktails" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).

Editorial Note: The stories by Canadian author Lisa Alward (https://www.lisaalward.com) have won The Fiddlehead Prize and the Peter Hinchcliffe Short Fiction Award and have appeared in Best Canadian Stories as well as The Journey Prize Stories. She worked for several years in literary publishing in Toronto.

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