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Ave Maria

Pages
152
Published
2025
Language
Portuguese

Synopsis

Sinan Antoon's novel delves into the life of a Chaldean Christian family in Baghdad, highlighting the profound impact of war and persecution on minorities in Iraq. The story unfolds over a single day, presenting the contrasting perspectives of Yussef, an elder clinging to the past, and Maha, a young woman scarred by pain and resentment. As they revisit personal and collective memories, family traumas and the complexities of their identities amidst political and sectarian violence come to light. Through intimate dialogues, the book explores themes of faith, identity, and resistance in the face of destruction.

About the author

S
Sinan Antoon

Sinan Antoon (b. 1967, Baghdad) is an Iraqi poet, novelist, translator and scholar. He left Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War and studied at Georgetown and Harvard, earning a doctorate in Arabic literature; he is now an associate professor at NYU's Gallatin School. His novels include I'jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody, The Corpse Washer, and The Book of Collateral Damage. He has also translated Mahmoud Darwish's In the Presence of Absence, for which he won the American Literary Translators Association's Natio...

Characters

YussefProtagonist
MahaProtagonist
All characters in Ave Maria