Before The Queen Falls Asleep – Huzama Habayeb

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Chaired by Sally

Born a girl to parents who expected a boy, Jihad grows up treated like the eldest son, wearing boy’s clothing and sharing the burden of head of the household with her father. Now middle-aged, each night Jihad tells her daughter a story from her life. As Maleka prepares to leave home to attend university abroad, her mother revisits the past of their Palestinian family, describing their life in exile in Kuwait and her own experiences of love and loss as she grew up.

I weep over images from the serialised drama of our massacres, with multiple episodes and seasons. I gather them in private collections that I return to more than the family albums.

SALLY
● It took me a long time to become engaged with this book. Partly it was the style, which uses very elaborate and ornate language and very long sentence structure. I have since read that this is a feature of Arabic writing. The story follows a family of displaced Palestinians and centres round the eldest daughter, Jihad who is retelling her life story for the benefit of her daughter. I get the feeling the book is at least partly autobiographical as Jihad’s education and career mirrors that of the author, as does the fact that she has to leave her home because of war.

There are many themes in the book including displacement, family love, maternal love but for me the standout was feminism. All the female characters are strong and find ways to survive in terrible circumstances and to provide nourishment both physical and spiritual for their families. Their philosophy seems to be generosity even when there is very little to share. With the current horrors happening in Palestine, I felt especially empathetic towards this story of these women who prevail despite the challenges presented to them. A slow burn for sure but persevere and you will come to appreciate this loud and boisterous family, their strengths and idiosyncrasies and feel some hope for their futures.

JODIE
●  I truly enjoyed this novel for the fact that it weaves together personal memory, family tension and gives the reader a cultural insight into Middle Eastern life. It tells us stories that women are often never allowed to tell. I enjoyed reading about the complexities of middle eastern womanhood and intergenerational trauma that comes with living through war, exile and silence. 

RACHEL
●  This was a mixed bag for me. Some parts were poetic and deeply affecting and others were long-winded chopping between people and times too much for me to follow. I did appreciate the characterisation of Jihad, and how her identity and place in the family helped define her and to question the role of women in Arab countries. I enjoyed the look at the reality of life in Palestine, Kuwait and Jordan during times of conflict, in particular how the author made this a personal war story not a political one. I loved all the female characters and how they manipulated their lives of control and survival with a quiet and undetected resistance in order to provide for their families. There are some people I think would enjoy this book but I wouldn’t make a sweeping recommendation of it to all and sundry.

TESSA
●  Before the Queen Falls Asleep wasn’t a page‑turning read for me and certainly not a book I raced through. There were times where I was totally absorbed and other times where my attention was lost, putting it down to come back to later. Maybe it was the style of writing, or the way the narrative weaved between past and present at times making it feel fragmented. More than once, I found myself re‑reading passages to locate where I was in time and place.

That being said, I enjoyed the richness of the story. It felt intimate and deeply personal – almost like reading a memoir. What stood out for me was the focus on the women in the story, especially the central character Jihad. She carries a heavy share of her family’s burden on her shoulders, treated like the eldest son in terms of responsibility. She has a certain amount of freedom, but also through circumstances, heavy restraints lead to further hardship, which are compounded by displacement during the Gulf War. I also appreciated the father–daughter dynamic. His weakness showed just how strong and resilient she had to become, even when she felt like giving up.  

There are very raw moments, tender moments and even flashes of humour throughout. I didn’t find it to be a political book but set within a certain time where politics played a strong part in the way the characters’ way of life played out. A book I am glad to have read and it felt  especially timely in light of Palestine’s current situation.

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Published in Arabic 2011
Translated into English by Kay Heikkinen 2021
MacLehose Press
500 pages