Hanan al-Shaykh is one of the contemporary Arab world's most acclaimed writers. She was born in Lebanon and brought up in Beirut, before going to Cairo to receive her education. She was a successful journalist in Beirut, then later lived in the Arabian Gulf, before moving to London. She is the author of the collection I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops and her novels include The Story of Zahra, Women of Sand and Myrrh, Beirut Blues and, most recently, Only in London, which was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. She lives in London.

'A complex and demanding story of women in the Gulf - oppresed, manipulated, sexually tormented and confused ... breathtakingly frank' Edward Said 'One of the finest Arab novelists of her generation' Financial Times 'A small masterpiece in the psychological confines of the modern harem' Newsweek 'Al-Shaykh goes where few Arab writers have gone before: not just into a world of women but into their sexuality' Economist

Hanan al-Shaykh is one of the contemporary Arab world's most acclaimed writers. She was born in Lebanon and brought up in Beirut, before going to Cairo to receive her education. She was a successful journalist in Beirut, then later lived in the Arabian Gulf, before moving to London. She is the author of the collection I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops and her novels include The Story of Zahra, Women of Sand and Myrrh, Beirut Blues and, most recently, Only in London, which was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. She lives in London.

'A complex and demanding story of women in the Gulf - oppresed, manipulated, sexually tormented and confused ... breathtakingly frank' Edward Said 'One of the finest Arab novelists of her generation' Financial Times 'A small masterpiece in the psychological confines of the modern harem' Newsweek 'Al-Shaykh goes where few Arab writers have gone before: not just into a world of women but into their sexuality' Economist