Shahla Ujayli Book order

The novel presents an intergenerational narrative through the lives of three women from Raqqa, revealing the complexities of their relationships and experiences amid a backdrop often reduced to simplistic stereotypes. Lamis, her mother Najwa, and grandmother Karma navigate their daily lives against the rich tapestry of Syria's history, moving through various locations like Turkey, Jerusalem, and Aleppo. The story highlights the diversity and depth of Syrian life, challenging the narrow perceptions of Raqqa and emphasizing the interconnectedness of its people with the broader world.

A groundbreaking collection of experimental short fiction by award-winning Syrian author and Booker International Prize for Arabic Fiction nominee Shahla Ujayli, A Bed for the King’s Daughter uses surrealism and irony to examine such themes as women’s agency, the decline of collective life and imagination under modernity, and the effects of social and political corruption on daily life. In “The Memoir of Cinderella’s Shoes,” Cinderella uses her famous glass slipper as a weapon in order to take justice into her own hands. In “Tell Me About Surrealism,” an art history professor’s writing assignment reveals the slipperiness of storytelling, and in “Merry Christmas,” the realities of apartheid interfere with one family’s celebration. Through twenty-two short stories, Ujayli animates—with brevity and inventiveness—themes relevant to both the particularities of life in the Arab world and life outside it.