The occasional virgin
By: Hanan al-Shaykh ; translated from the Arabic by Catherine Cobham
Contributors: Cobham, Catherine, translator; Shaykh, Ḥanān
Edition: First American edition.
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 221
ISBN-13: 9781524747510
Subjects: Women; Fiction
Work titles: Novels
Description: In this frank and fearless novel, acclaimed writer Hanan al-Shaykh follows the tumultuous lives and sometimes shocking choices of women successful in their careers but unlucky in love. On a sunny beach on the Italian Riviera, two thirtysomething women, Yvonne and Huda, relax by the sparkling sea. But despite the setting, as their vacation unfolds, their complicated pasts seep through to the idyllic present. Both women spent their childhoods in Lebanon--Yvonne raised in a Christian family, Huda in a Muslim one--and they now find themselves torn between the traditional worlds they were born into and the successful professional identities they've created. Three months later, when Huda (a theater director from Toronto) visits Yvonne (an advertising executive) in London, a chance encounter with a man at Speaker's Corner leads to profound repercussions for them both. As the novel continues, each woman will undertake her own quest for love and romance, revenge and fulfillment. Witty and wry, The Occasional Virgin is a poignant and perceptive tale for our time.
Notes: Consists of the English translation of two Arabic works previously published separately under the titles: Imra'atān ʻalā shāṭi' al-baḥr (2003), and, ʻAdhārá Lundunistān (2015).

In English, translated from the Arabic.