Harare Review of Books

320 pages.

Expected publication date: Mar. 7, 2023 (Grove Atlantic)

Historical fiction/African.

There are books that take your breath away; this is one. How perfectly the story comes together! How well-rounded and sympathetic the characters, how gripping the events in it, how well-balanced the form. Leila Aboulela has written a beautiful story, set in Sudan in the interval between Ottoman and British rule in the late 19th century.

This is the story of Akuany, or Zamzam, who loses her father and is taken in by Yaseen, a merchant who is upright and honourable, and who remains committed to her welfare through the many complications in his own life. It is also the story of Salha, Yaseen’s wife, a strong, intelligent, and forthright woman, who always does what is right, and best. But mainly, through these women’s lives, it is the story of Sudan and its people, and of the powers that would control it, from within and without.

Aboulela writes truly gorgeous scenes that remain in the memory quite as if one was actually there. She writes for Sudan as one who loves it, so that you come to love it too. It is wonderfully refreshing to read a historical novel about an African country from a non-Western gaze—in other words, away from the perspective of the would-be conqueror. Most importantly, this novel is about two very different women, complex, complete and unapologetic, with agency within the constraints of their time and culture.

I don’t think it would be wrong to call this the great Sudanese novel. In River Spirit, Aboulela has written a novel with great heft and profound emotional depth, one that is sure to eclipse many others. It is incredibly beautiful, and deeply moving.

Thank you very much to Grove Atlantic and to NetGalley for access to this ARC.

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