As Though She Were Sleeping

Praise for Elias Khoury's New York TimesNotable Book Gate of the Sun: "An imposingly rich and realistic novel, a genuine masterwork." The New York Times Book Review "The beautiful, resilient city of Beirut belongs to Khoury." Los Angeles Times Book Review Milia's eyelashes drew apart, her eyes still curtained in drowsiness. She made up her mind to close them again and return to her dream. She saw a small white candle whose wan light trembled and flickered in the fog. . . Milia's response to her new husband Mansour and to the Middle East of 1947 is to close her eyes and drift into parallel worlds where identities shift, where she can converse with the dead and foresee the future. As the novel progresses, Milia's dreams become more navigable than the strange and obstinate "reality" in which she finds herself, and the two worlds grow ever more entangled. Elias Khoury, born in Beirut in 1948, is a novelist, essayist, playwright, and critic. He was awarded the Palestine Prize for Gate of the Sun, which was named a Best Book of the Year by Le Monde Diplomatique, The Christian Science Monitor, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and a Notable Book by The New York Timesand The Kansas City Star. Archipelago Books also published Khoury's Yaloin 2008 and his White Masksin 2010.

Elias Khoury, born in Beirut, is the author of thirteen novels, four volumes of literary criticism, and three plays. He was awarded the Palestine Prize for Gate of the Sun, which was named Best Book of the Year by Le Monde Diplomatique, The Christian Science Monitor, and The San Fransisco Chronicle, and a Notable Book by The New York Times. Khoury's Yalo, White Masks, Little Mountain, The Journey of Little Gandhi, and City Gates are also available in English. Khoury is a Global Distinguished Professor of Middle Eastern and Arabic Studies at New York University. As Though She Were Sleeping received France's inaugural Arabic novel Prize.

Marilyn Booth holds the Iraq Chair in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Her publications include Harem Histories: Envisioning Places and Living Spaces and May Her Likes Be Multiplied: Biography and Gender Politics in Egypt. She has translated over a dozen works of Arabic fiction, including novels by Hoda Barakat, Hamdi Abu Golayyel, Alia Mamdouh, Somaya Ramadan, and Latifa al-Zayyat. Booth received the AATA Translation Prize in ‘81, the University of Arkansas Arabic Literature Translation Prize in ‘94, and was runner-up for the 2007 Saif al-Ghobashi Banipal International Arabic Translation Award.