- Hudā Ḥamad (1981-, Oman) – Sindarīlā Musqaṭ (‘Muskat’s Cinderella’, 2016) This novel focusses on a group of eight women living in Muskat, Oman, who meet once a month in one of the city’s restaurants to share and listen to each other’s stories, pain, romances, and joy, presenting an intimate picture of city life and the issues faced by the different women. Its narrator, Zabīdah, brings everyone together and receives the help of a benevolent djinn in prolonging the hours they spend outside of their work and at times depressing homelife, as long as she returns home before midnight (also in L: Cultural and Literary Heritage: Folktales).
- Bushrā Khalfān (1969-, Oman) – Dilshād, Sīrah al-Jūʿa wa al-Shibaʿa (‘Dilshad’, 2021). This historical fiction novel is set in Muscat and Muttarah in the first half of the 20th century, a time when Oman knew economic duress and a period of famine (reference). It’s main character, the blind Dilshād, lives in poverty with his daughter Miryam, but nevertheless uses imagination and laughter to cope with his circumstances (reference). The novel portrays the city of Muskat from a historical point of view, while also showing its multicultural identity, including that of the Balocahis, Banyan, and Bahara (reference). The book is announced to be the first in a forthcoming series (reference) (also in M: Minorities: Baloch).
- Ghāliyyah Āl Saʿīd (?, Oman) – Ṣābirah wa Aṣīlah (‘Sabira and Asila’, 2007) and Ḥārat al-ʿŪr (‘Harat al-Ur’, 2019).
Ṣābirah wa Aṣīlah describes the male-dominated life of two close friends, Ṣābirah and Aṣīlah, who live in the isolated city of Muskat in the 1960s. Ṣābirah’s father and brother ultimately control her, but she manages to escape in her fantasy world and her relationship with a Palestinian teacher called Shaham. Their love-story ends however, when he travels to London and forgets all his promises to her. He leaves Ṣābirah pregnant, and together with Aṣīlah she manages to hide the pregnancy until she gives birth to her daughter. But she soon thereafter meets a tragic fate at the hands of her brother (S: Social Issues and Societal Change: Patriarchism).
Ḥārat al-ʿŪr paints a picture of Muskat through the eyes of the newly arrived Egyptian teacher Ghanwah, who moves to the Gulf country to work and who discovers the social fabric of the city, including the life of its poorest inhabitants. The novel describes her life, as well as the history of Oman, showing the changes that have taken place in the country before and after opening to the world (also in M: Movement: (E) migration, Refugees and Return: (E) Migration: Arab Migrant Workers).
Refrences:
- Sharifah Alhinai. 2022. “The great Omani novelist rises”, in Sekka 5(24): 26-31, p. 29, 30
- Munā Abū al-Naṣr. 2021. “‘Dilshād’ li-Bushrā Khalfān .. Riwāyah Nahriyyah Taḥkī al-Sīrah al-Munsiyyah li-Musqaṭ.” www.alfaislmag.com, 1 July 2021, https://www.alfaisalmag.com/?p=21394 (last accessed 29 January, 2023)