Wolves of the Crescent Moon - by Yousef Al-Mohaimeed (Paperback)

About the Book

This provocative novel of three men--each with a physical deficit--is a story of almost overpowering sensuality about people who have been denied sensual experience. As their paths converge, they discover the miraculous power of stories to deliver them from the nightmare of their lives.

Book Synopsis

"The first great Saudi novel." --The New York Sun

Banned in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, this provocative, fast-paced debut novel confirms what The Washington Post reported about its award-winning author: "Yousef Al-Mohaimeed is taking on some of the most divisive subjects in the Arab world . . . in a lush style that evokes Gabriel García Márquez."

In a Riyadh bus station, a man comes across a file containing official reports about an abandoned baby. As he pieces together the shattered life documented within, a larger picture emerges of three outsiders--a Bedouin, an orphan, and a eunuch-linked by fate and trying to make lives for themselves in a predatory city.

Unfolding with the intensity of a fever dream over the course of one night, Wolves of the Crescent Moon is a novel of astonishing power and great moral consequence about a deeply traditional society confronting the modern world.

Review Quotes

"[A] clear and gripping picture of a Saudi society terribly divided between old and new, rich and poor." --Los Angeles Times

"A dramatic rendering of culture clash . . . Sophisticated . . . Will remind you of Camus's Stranger." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Wolves of the Crescent Moon has put Saudi Arabia at the forefront of Arab literature. . . . Saudi commentators have warned of an emerging 'industry' of writing about Saudi Arabia that is in danger of falling into cliches of representation for the sake of a quick buck. . . . Not so Mohaimeed, whose Wolves of the Crescent Moon eschews populist material such as young people's sex lives to delve into the complex Saudi social fabric with striking narrative artistry." --Reuters

"Haunting . . . Employing a nonlinear narrative that shimmers with a certain dreamlike quality, Wolves interweaves the lives of [three] characters in complex and unexpected ways. It's easy to imagine this tale being narrated by an ancient storyteller to a group of rapt listeners gathered around a blazing desert fire. Al-Mohaimeed's prose is taut and yet lyrical, evoking the harsh beauty of the desert landscape in spare sentences rich with vivid imagery. While his name will be unfamiliar to most American readers, his talent deserves serious attention." --BookPage

"Swirls with a richness of language and imagery . . . Deserving of a large audience." --Library Journal

"A very rich work . . . Intense . . . Vivid . . . Powerful . . . Gripping . . . Artfully constructed . . . A riveting story . . . Wolves of the Crescent Moon describes a part of Saudi society that is barely noticed. . . . Al-Mohaimeed's creative approach in weaving together these stories, and the pithiness of some of the scenes, show a talented author at work, yet another indication of a lively, innovative Arabic-fiction scene from which a lot more will surely be heard in the future." --The Complete Review

"This fresh-voiced debut novel . . . beautifully captures the frustrations and resentments of [its] tormented characters." --Publishers Weekly

"A fascinating story of three souls disfigured by life and looking for peace and safety in a merciless world . . . A fine read." --Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Arabian Jazz and Crescent

"An irresistible novel." --Nuruddin Farah, author of Links and Knots

"Brave and brilliant . . . A novel that sneaks up on you with its power to make you see, hear, and live the complexities of another world." --Uzodinma Iweala, author of Beasts of No Nation

"At last, an authentic voice from Saudi Arabia. Yousef Al-Mohaimeed has written a remarkable, rhythmic, genuine novel, throbbing with sensuality and moral courage, as if it didn't take place in a society that denies the tick of the heart." --Hanan al-Shaykh, author of Women of Sand and Myrrh

About the Author

Yousef Al-Mohaimeed was born in Riyadh in 1964. He has published several novels and short story collections in Arabic and has had stories published in Lebanon, Egypt, France, Germany, Spain, and Russia. He studied English and photography at Norwich University in England and was recently presented with an award by Diwan al Arab magazine and the Egyptian Journalists Union in recognition of his creative contribution to Arab culture. He lives in Riyadh.

Anthony Calderbank is the translator of Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz's novel Rhadopis of Nubia, Sonallah Ibrahim's Zaat, and Miral al-Tahawy's The Tent and Blue Aubergine. He lives in Khobar, Saudi Arabia.