Novel
The Long Way Back
الرجع البعيد
Fuad al-Takarli · 1980
Synopsis
In a house in Baghdad live four generations of the same family: the parents, Abu Midhat and Nouriya, their sons Midhat and Karim, their daughter Madiha, separated from her husband, and her children. Their cousin Munira, a young teacher, comes to settle there after being raped by a relative, and keeps the secret. The two brothers fall in love with her, each in his own way, and Midhat marries her, while the city slides towards the coup d'état of 8 February 1963.
Context
The novel appeared in 1980. Its author depicted in it the trials of four generations of Baghdadis under the regimes that followed the fall of the monarchy, and was one of the few to criticise the government openly without being troubled. Martine Faideau and Rachida Turki translated it into French under the title Les Voix de l'aube, published by Lattès in 1985; Catherine Cobham translated it into English under the title The Long Way Back.
Who it is for
In Arabic, translated into French and English; three hundred and sixty-five pages in the French version.
Prizes and reception
Included in the list of the hundred best Arabic novels of the twentieth century, and translated into French as early as 1985.