Bird Summons
From the winner of the PEN Pinter Prize 2025
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Beschreibung des Verlags
* A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2019 *
* SHORTLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019 *
* LONGLISTED FOR THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE 2019 *
'BIRD SUMMONS is a magic carpet ride into the forest of history and the lives of women. Deep and wild' Lucy Ellmann, Booker-shortlisted author of DUCKS, NEWBURYPORT
Salma, happily married, tries every day to fit into life in Britain. When her first love contacts her, she is tempted to risk it all and return to Egypt.
Moni gave up a career in banking to care for her disabled son, but now her husband wants to move to Saudi Arabia - where she fears her son's condition will worsen.
Iman feels burdened by her beauty. In her twenties and already in her third marriage, she is treated like a pet and longs for freedom.
On a road trip to the Scottish Highlands, the women are visited by the Hoopoe, a sacred bird whose fables from Muslim and Celtic literature compel them to question the balance between faith and femininity, love, loyalty and sacrifice.
Brilliantly imagined, intense and haunting, Bird Summons confirms Leila Aboulela's reputation as one of our finest contemporary writers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Aboulela's impressive latest (after Elsewhere, Home) follows three Muslim women as they travel through the Scottish Highlands. Moni, a former banker, is the mother of Adam, a five-year-old with severe cerebral palsy. Her devotion to him has driven a wedge between her and her husband, Murtada, who's pressuring her and Adam to join him in Saudi Arabia. Iman is on her third doomed marriage; she was brought to Britain from war-torn Syria by her second husband. Having lived her entire adult life as someone's wife, she looks up to independent Salma, the de facto leader of the group, who's a successful massage therapist and has a Scottish husband and four children. Recent social media overtures from Salma's college ex back in Egypt, meanwhile, have left her questioning what could have been. The three women set out on a weeklong trip to the grave of Lady Evelyn Cobbold, the first British woman to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca. After they arrive at their cabin, they receive spectral visitations: a healthy young boy who makes Moni think of her son, a runner Salma begins to believe is her ex, and the Hoopoe, a mythical bird, for Iman. There's a not-entirely-successful vein of magical realism, but readers will root for Aboulela's well-drawn cast as they reconcile their desires with their faiths and the obligations of their everyday lives. Aboulela's novel is empathetic and insightful, offering a nuanced representation of the three characters through a blend of Islamic faith and Scottish folklore.
