"Where I come from, we’ve learned to silence ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence will save us. Where I come from, we keep these stories to ourselves. To tell them to the outside world is unheard of—dangerous, the ultimate shame.”
In Etaf Rum's debut novel, A Woman Is No Man, three generations of Palestinian-American women living in Brooklyn are torn between individual desire and the strict mores of Arab culture. Set in an America at once foreign to many and staggeringly close at hand, A Woman Is No Man is an intimate glimpse into a controlling and closed cultural world, and a universal tale about family and the ways silence and shame can destroy those we have sworn to protect. It is a heart-wrenching story of love, intrigue, courage, and betrayal that will resonate with women from all backgrounds, giving voice to the silenced and agency to the oppressed.
In this week's podcast episode, Etaf discusses her upcoming book, writing about a closed community and the potential pushback she may receive, and what she wants readers to take away from the book. Check out some of the amazing reviews of A Woman Is No Man and be sure to listen to the episode below!
“First-time novelist Rum’s setting…is rare: a Brooklyn Palestinian enclave in which reputation matters above all else….The daughter of Brooklyn Palestinian immigrants, Rum was often told ‘a woman is no man.’ Overcoming her fear of community reprisal, she alchemizes that limiting warning into a celebration of ‘the strength and power of our women.’”
—Booklist
“Etaf Rum’s A Woman is No Man is a shattering, revelatory tale of immigration, womanhood, and the cyclical impact of violence and oppression. An unflinchingly written story of both loss and hope, strewn with enthralling, vibrant characters, Rum has accomplished the extraordinary: a tale that bridges the domestic and global, memory and future, the old world and the new. A spectacular debut.”
—Hala Alyan, author of Salt Houses
A Woman Is No Man will be available on March 5, 2019. You can download an egalley on Edelweiss now.
-Lainey