Novel
The Translator
Leila Aboulela · 1999
Synopsis
Sammar, a young Sudanese widow, is an Arabic translator at a university in Aberdeen. Since her husband's sudden death, her little boy has lived with her family in Khartoum, and she gets through the Scottish winters alone, in mourning and isolation. Translating for Rae, a Scottish specialist in the Islamic world, she forms with him a friendship that becomes love. But Rae does not share the faith that governs Sammar's life, and she can only marry a Muslim.
Context
The author's first novel, the book appeared in 1999 from Polygon in Edinburgh, then in 2001 in Heinemann's African Writers Series. It is set between Aberdeen and Khartoum, two cities she knew, and she described her heroine as a Muslim Jane Eyre. A critic in the Muslim News called it the first halal novel written in English, and the academic Stephan Guth noted in it distant echoes of Tayeb Salih's great novel. The BBC made a five-part radio serial from it.
Who it is for
A novel in English of about two hundred pages, translated into French in 2003. The heroine's religious life is described from the inside, without assuming prior knowledge.
Prizes and reception
Praised by J. M. Coetzee, shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Dublin Prize; its radio adaptation was a contender for the Race in the Media Award.
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