“Sufien had always been afflicted with this desire – no, it was a call, a call to fly, a call to fall.”
Recently longlisted for the Women’s Prize, Hannah Lillith Assadi’s Paradiso 17 (Knopf 2026) is a beautiful portrayal home, family, and exile. While the second half seems a bit more rushed and distant than the first, the writing is absolutely beautiful. Based on the author’s note, she was inspired by her own father’s story, and we see that relationship loosely structured in Sufien and Layla.
Sufien’s story starts in Palestine in 1948. He spends the rest of his life trying to get back there, to go home to a place that only exists in his dreams and in death.
This is Sufien’s story, but it is also the story of those that weave in and out of his life. There are jinn and ghosts the venture forth with wisdom or beauty or hope. The women who come to meet him when he dies, the character of Tarique… it’s just so well thought out and beautiful. There is a lovely scene with Sufien recalling how his mother had brushed his forehead with her hand when he was ill – a familiar gesture that was recreated between him and Layla, and between Layla and her children.
I’d recommend this one. I think it would be a fantastic book club book.
A Girl Named Tommi 