Mask the Colour of the Sky - Bassem Khandaqji;Addie Leak

A novel of identity and resistance from one of Palestine’s most striking literary voices—written entirely from behind bars 

Nur, a Palestinian refugee from a camp near Ramallah, is often mistaken for an Ashkenazi Jew. Fluent in Hebrew and with a degree in archaeology, he dreams of freedom beyond the fence, and of writing a novel about Mary Magdalene based on the Gnostic Gospels. When he discovers an Israeli ID card in the pocket of a secondhand coat, he assumes a false identity and is hired for an archaeological dig near Megiddo. Passing as an Israeli, he moves through a world previously off-limits and gains insight into the lives of those he’s been taught to perceive as enemies. 

As Nur’s borrowed identity deepens, so does the rift within. Through an exploration of this internal conflict, Bassem Khandaqji’s Arabic Booker-winning novel offers a meditation on the personal toll of occupation and the elusive desire to belong—fully, honestly, and without fear. 

Key Selling Points:

• Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction

• Written from prison by a Palestinian political prisoner

• Explores themes of identity, disguise, conflict, and division

Target Readership: 

• For readers of Minor Detail by Adania Shibli; Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa; You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat; Enter Ghost and Recognizing the Stranger by Isabella Hammad; The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah; and the oeuvre of Ghassan Kanafani.

• For readers of political fiction, fiction about war, genocide, contemporary accounts of the Israeli-Palestine conflict.