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A "poetic and immersive" (LitHub) debut novel from a rising Sudanese writer
In a desperate attempt to save his mother and two sisters from famine and disease, a young man leaves his native village in Sudan and sets out alone to seek work in the city. This is the beginning of Hamza’s long journey. Hunger and destitution lead him ever farther from his home: first from Sudan to Egypt, where the lack of work forces him to join a band of smugglers, and finally from Egypt to Europe—Italy, France, Holland—where he experiences first-hand the harsh world of migrant laborers and the bitter realities of life as an illegal immigrant.
Tarek Eltayeb’s first novel offers an uncompromising depiction of poverty in both the developed and the developing world. With its simple yet elegant style, Cities without Palms tells of a tragic human life punctuated by moments of true joy.
"The themes and style are reminiscent of Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, who is also attracted to exile and weaves many a story of young men on complicated and nostalgic journeys across East Africa and into Europe. The prose is poetic and immersive, which is no surprise given that Eltayeb is also an accomplished poet. Cities without Palms ends rather abruptly, but is followed by a sequel titled, The Palm House, flawlessly translated by the same translator, Kareem James Palmer-Zeid."—Bhakti Shringarpure, LitHub
“This tale told with skillful simplicity and without sentimentality should be read by anyone who wants to see what we are accustomed to hearing every day of famine and migration from the victim’s perspective.”—Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Kareem James Abu-Zeid is the translator of Tarek Eltayeb’s The Palm House (AUC Press, 2011). He was runner-up in the 2010 Saif Ghobash–Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation for his translation of Cities without Palms.