The Orchards of Basra

“A subtly musical voice, untrammeled storytelling, beyond the beaten paths of folklore and picturesque charm that we associate with Arab literature or, to be more exact, what we imagine to be Arab literature, and at the same time, with a stroke of genius – and this is the most delightful and important thing – that knows how to pay tribute to those same beaten paths by following them all the way to their source, deepening and adding perspective to a millennial Arab culture.” – Ersi Sotiropoulos“Mansoura Ez-Eldin’s novel has the brilliance and mystery of a marvelous gem.” – Damien Aubel, Transfuge“In this captivating and remarkably translated novel, Mansoura Ez-Eldin invites us to a round trip in time and space, between Cairo and Basra in Iraq, to meet timeless characters in a story which subtly mixes fiction and historical reality.” – Nadia Leila Aissaoui, L’Orient le Jour“A polyphonic story where she brilliantly combines the codes of ancient Arabic writing and those of the contemporary novel … [A] labyrinthine narration where we get lost, like in the alleys of an Arab medina, with delight.” – Richard Jacquemond, Le Monde des Livres“An exalted novel that sublimates the powers of dreams and fiction.” – Marjorie Bertin, Le Courrier de L’Atlas“To be discovered without delay.” – Via Books“Her superbly mastered novel is a confirmation of her talent as a storyteller.” – Mare Nostrum“The Orchards of Basra is a poignant novel, written with poetic elegance. It is a thought-provoking tale that brings the reader intimately close to not just one, but all of the key characters. The novel succeeds in challenging the depths of the reader’s mind and faith, while transcending time and space.” – The New Arab“[The Orchards of Basra] pursues the surreal and the hallucinatory with obsessive intensity … Now available in Paul Starkey’s smooth and accessible translation, the book takes as its premise a recurring dream that hounds the modern-day protagonist, Hisham Khattab, as if it possesses a demonic, vengeful animacy … what emerges throughout is how fragile and prone to disintegration the borders of identity are … The primordial and far-reaching philosophical questions posed by [the book] are belied by its propulsive subplots, the dense entanglements of the sorrows it charts, the semiotic mesh of images that overlay the text. Yet they are no less essential for the sublimated form in which they come packaged.” – Words Without Borders“Mansoura Ez-Eldin’s new novel delves into the consequences of erased history. By weaving together elements of dreams, memory, and forgotten philosophy, it tells the story of a Cairo bookseller who is haunted by the ghost of a Mu?tazilite thinker. In a region where the act of remembering is often political, this book insists that some stories cannot be silenced … Ez-Eldin’s writing is layered and evocative. The Orchards of Basra is not just a story of intellectual rediscovery; it’s a meditation on the fragility of memory, the cost of reclaiming lost knowledge, and the battle for intellectual freedom. The novel’s central struggle—reclaiming Mu?tazilite philosophy from erasure—is a metaphor for the broader cultural amnesia that the novel critiques. It’s a story about fighting to remember, even when the forces of history and power are working against you … It is a work of art that dares us to reconsider the stories we’ve been told, and those we’ve been taught to forget.” – The Markaz Review“Mansoura Ez-Eldin’s The Orchards of Basra is a haunting, time-spanning tale following an Egyptian bookseller whose dreams connect him to an ancient figure, exploring sin, free will, and morality across generations.” – The New Arab, 25 Standout Books of 2025

Mansoura Ez-Eldin is an award-winning Egyptian novelist and short story writer, born in 1976. She is the author of six novels and three short story collections and her works have been translated into more than ten languages. In 2010, she was the youngest writer to be shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for her novel Beyond Paradise. The Orchards of Basra was longlisted for IPAF in 2022.

Paul Starkey has translated works by Adania Shibli, Mansoura Ez Eldin, Edwar al-Kharrat, and others. He won the 2015 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation for his translation of Youssef Rakha’s novel The Book of the Sultan’s Seal.

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