Moving the Palace
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
"A Middle Eastern heart-of-darkness tale that flows like a dream . . . Crackling with razor-sharp humor" (The New York Times).
At the dawn of the twentieth century, a young Lebanese explorer leaves the Levant for the wilds of Africa, encountering an eccentric English colonel in Sudan and enlisting in his service. In this lush chronicle of far-flung adventure, the military recruit crosses paths with a compatriot who has dismantled a sumptuous palace in Tripoli and is transporting it across the continent on a camel caravan. The protagonist soon takes charge of this hoard of architectural fragments, ferrying the dismantled landmark through Sudan, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula, attempting to return to his native Beirut with this moveable real estate. Along the way, he will encounter skeptic sheikhs, suspicious tribal leaders, bountiful feasts, pilgrims bound for Mecca, and T. E. Lawrence in a tent—in this "utterly charming" novel that was a recipient of the Académie Française's François Mauriac Prize (Library Journal).
"Renders the complex social landscape of the Middle East and North Africa with subtlety and finesse . . . Yet one doesn't need to care about the region's history, or its present-day contexts, to enjoy Moving the Palace." —The Wall Street Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Samuel Ayyad, a Lebanese Protestant, becomes obsessed with transporting a disassembled palace across the Middle East in this charming and gently humorous historical novel. In the early 20th century, Samuel moves to Sudan to seek wealth using his language skills to interpret for the British army. While traveling to shore up British dominance of the region, he meets a merchant trying to find a buyer for the small palace he has purchased, taken apart, and strapped to the backs of a caravan of camels. Taken with this project, Samuel becomes a partner and uses British army gold to grease enough local gears to avoid violence and theft. As the caravan drivers and even the merchant lose faith in the quest, Samuel decides to take the palace back home to Lebanon, only to be stymied by the outbreak of World War I. Majdalani's writing sparkles as he relates Samuel's picaresque and often funny schemes to get back to Lebanon through hostile territory. The narrator, Samuel's grandchild, periodically interjects to offer just enough history of the region to keep less familiar readers on track. Those looking for an enjoyable and brisk literary adventure will be very satisfied.
