Mario and Abu L-Abbas Joan McBreen

Mario and Abu L-Abbas Joan McBreenA visionary novel of spiritual friendship across centuries. In Mario and Abu L Abbas, acclaimed Egyptian author Reem Bassiouney reimagines the extraordinary connection between a 20th century Italian architect and a 13th century Andalusian Sufi saint. As stories unfold from war torn Alexandria to medieval Tunisia, the novel explores exile, memory, and the mysteries of divine love. Translated by Roger Allen, this sweeping tale bridges East and West,

including Ploughshares

It takes the form of an extended annotated directory

these citizens of empire were not embraced as compatriots on an equal footing

her love of the natural world and her grief at what threatens it

humanise its monumental ascent

Guardian journalist and novelist

both contemporaneously and historically

Poetry Ireland Review 128

A decade on from the major anthology Watching the River Flow (Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann

And in desolate and desert places

observations on the threatening edge of violence below the surface energies of Black British territories in London

Written with zest