The Parisian

An Amazon Best Book of April 2019: You could label The Parisian as historical fiction, but it seems silly to limit it that way. This is just a great novel, and Isabella Hammad is an ambitions, sensitive, and abundantly talented writer. The Parisian is the story of Midhat Kamal. We first meet him in 1914 Marseilles, while he is on his way to Montpelier to attend medical school. He is also about to fall in love for the first time. Within a year, he is studying in Paris, absorbing the culture; but as a Palestinian living in France, he is always an outsider. Eventually, Midhat returns to his hometown of Nablus, where his father, a wealthy textile merchant, rules his days, and where Britain now rules the land. Midhat must answer to his father’s expectations at the same time that he is trying to make his way in a changing Palestine—and still there are tendrils that reach back to France. The Parisian is, almost unbelievably, a debut novel—a moving personal story set against a sweeping historical backdrop—and Isabella Hammad is an exciting new voice in literature. --Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review