Historical Novels of the Middle EastJump to: The Arabian Peninsula Click on the title for more information from Powell's Books or another online source. For novels set during Biblical times, see the Ancient History page. For novels about the Crusades which reflect primarily the viewpoints of European Crusaders (most of whom had little understanding of Arabic culture and considered the Islamic religion to be reprehensible) see the Crusades page. In general, novels reflecting a European or American perspective are listed on other pages, so if you don't see what you want here, try looking under the time and place of the main character's homeland.
The Arabian PeninsulaRaja Alem and Tom McDonough, My Thousand and One Nights, a literary historical fantasy about an Arabian woman and a dervish, set in late medieval Mecca. John Elray, Khalifah: A Novel of Conquest and Personal Triumph (2002), about a forced convert to Islam, the son of an enemy of Muhammed, who embarks on a quest for power within the Islamic movement during the decades after Muhammed's death. Sherry Jones, The Jewel of Medina (2008), about A'isha, the youngest and most beloved wife of the Prophet Muhammad. Review Ghalib Lakhnavi & Abdullah Bilgrami, The Adventures of Amir Hamza (in English, 2007), a saga dating back to as early as the seventh century, about an uncle of the Prophet Muhammed; new translation into English by Musharraf Ali Farooqi. Abdelrahman Munif, Cities of Salt, about the effects on an unspecified Middle Eastern country of Americans looking for oil beginning in the 1930s. Kamran Pasha, Mother of the Believers (2009), about Aisha, the favorite wife of the Prophet Muhammad, and the early years of Islam. Review
Palestine, Israel, Syria, LebanonRabih Alameddine, The Hakawati, about the stories from the Middle East, present and past, that a dying man in Beirut tells to his son. Tariq Ali, The Book of Saladin, about Salah al-Din, the Kurdish warrior and sultan who reconquered Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187. Review Yehoash Biber, Adventures in the Galilee (1973), a collection of ten short stories set in northern Israel before 1948, about Arab, Druse and Jewish farmers and Bedouins living as peaceful neighbors. Sarah Bryant, The Sand Daughter, about a young Bedouin woman during the Crusades in the Middle East. Noah Gordon, The Jerusalem Diamond Emile Habiby (also spelled Emil or Imil Habibi), The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist, a tragicomic novel about a hapless Palestinian who remains in Israel after its creation and becomes an informer for the state. Amin Maalouf, Balthasar’s Odyssey, about a Levantine merchant in 1666 and his search for a mystical book said to contain the hundredth name of God. Amin Maalouf, The Rock of Tanios, about the disappearance of a Lebanese child during the late nineteenth century period of political struggle over the Ottoman Empire. Kanan Makiya, The Rock: A Tale of Seventh-Century Jerusalem (2002), about the building of Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock by Jews, Christians and Muslims in a time when the distinctions between Islam and Judaism were still blurred. Meir Shalev, The Blue Mountain (1988; also titled Russian Romance), about an orphan raised by his grandfather on a kibbutz in the early twentieth century, who becomes a mortician and reflects on the people he has buried through the years. Leon Uris, Exodus, about the creation of Israel after World War II. Leon Uris, The Haj (1984), about Palestinians during the early to mid-twentieth century; has been criticized as a stereotyped and largely negative portrayal. Herman Wouk, The Hope, about the Arab-Israeli wars, beginning with the 1948 Israeli War of Indepedence.
Turkey and the Ottoman EmpireTariq Ali, The Stone Woman, about a wealthy Istanbul family in the summer of 1899 as the Ottoman Empire decays. Barbara Chase-Riboud, Valide: A Novel of the Harem (1986), about harem women in the Ottoman Empire. Louis de Bernieres, Birds Without Wings (2004), about life in a small Turkish village at the end of the Ottoman Empire. Mor (or Maurus) Jokai, The Lion of Janina: The Last Days of the Janissaries (1854), about Ali Pasha of Janina, an Albanian brigand who rose to power under the Ottoman Turks. Ismail Kadare, The Siege (1970), a literary novel about a Christian citadel in fifteenth century Albania and its defiance of the army of the Ottoman Turks and their inevitable conquest; awarded the first Man Booker International Prize. Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red, a literary novel set in sixteenth century Istanbul about the disappearance of an artist involved in the Sultan's project to illustrate a book with representational artwork forbidden by Islam. Orhan Pamuk, The White Castle, a surrealistic literary novel about a seventeenth century Italian scholar who becomes the slave of a scholar in Constantinople. Lawrence Schoonover, The Gentle Infidel (1950), about a young member of the Turkish emperor's Janissaries and the two very different women he loves, one a seductive, married Turkish woman, the other a Venetian Christian. Barry Unsworth, Pascali’s Island, a literary novel about a Turkish spy on a small Greek island during the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
Mesopotamia and AfghanistanJustin Allen, Slaves of the Shinar (2007), about a fictional war in ancient Sumer waged by the legendary Nephilim people. Gillian Bradshaw, Horses of Heaven, about a spiritually gifted woman forced into a political marriage with the ruler of Ferghana (now Afghanistan) in the second century B.C. Wallace Breem, The Leopard and the Cliff Marek Halter, The Wind of the Khazars, about a modern novelist challenged to find a subject worth writing about and a pair of tenth century lovers in Khazaria, the ancient Jewish nation in the southern Caucasus. Linda Holeman, The Moonlit Cage, about an abused Afghan wife who flees to India and then London in the nineteenth century. Monroe S. Kuttner, The Rabbi King: David of Khazaria (2001), about a fictional leader of the Jewish kingdom of Khazaria in its waning days during the twelfth century; self-published. Amin Maalouf, The Gardens of Light, about the third century Mesopotamian artist, doctor and prophet Mani, whose philosophy in a distorted form came to be known as Manichaeism. Barry Unsworth, Land of Marvels (2009), about a British archaeologist, his wife, a handsome American geologist and an Arab con man in Mesopotamia in 1914 during the last days of the Ottoman Empire and the early days of the Western quest for oil. Review
PersiaAnita Amirrezvani, The Blood of Flowers (2007), about a young woman in seventeenth century Persia forced to become a carpet weaver after her father dies. Vladimir Bartol, Alamut (1938), about Hasan Sabbah, an eleventh century warlord who converted young men into fearless assassins by tricking them into believing he held the key to Paradise. Review C.J. Kirwin, Dawn of the Greatest Persian: The Childhood of Cyrus the Great, a novel about the childhood of Cyrus the Great which attempts to reconcile differing accounts of the Persian emperor's life story; #1 in a planned trilogy; self-published. C.J. Kirwin, Finding the Persian Way: Cyrus the Great Travels in Ancient Persia, a novel about the childhood of Cyrus the Great which attempts to reconcile differing accounts of the Persian emperor's life story; #2 in a planned trilogy; self-published. Amin Maalouf, Samarkand, about the eleventh century Persian poet Omar Khayyam. Mysteries Set in the Middle EastJason Goodwin, The Janissary Tree (2006), a literary mystery about a Turkish eunuch who is a detective and must track down a serial killer whose murders threaten to disrupt the Sultan's plan to modernize the Ottoman Empire in 1936; #1 in the Investigator Yashim series. Jason Goodwin, The Snake Stone (2009), a literary mystery about a Turkish eunuch who is a detective, but becomes the chief suspect in the murder of an archaeologist in 1830s Istanbul; #2 in the Investigator Yashim series. Jason Goodwin, The Bellini Card (2009), a literary mystery about a Turkish eunuch in nineteenth century Istanbul assigned to track down a missing Bellini portrait of Mehmed the Conqueror which may have resurfaced in Venice; #3 in the Investigator Yashim series.
Andrew Killeen, The Seven Voyages of Abu Nuwas (forthcoming in April 2010), a literary thriller set in eighth-century Baghdad in which a former thief, now a storyteller, tries to help his old friend, a noted poet, find out who is trying to kill him; sequel to The Father of Locks.
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Of the historical novels set in the Middle East, only a few represent primarily the viewpoints of natives. Among those which do are novels by distinguished authors such as British-Pakistani journalist Tariq Ali, Nobel Prize-winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, and Lebanese author Amin Maalouf, winner of a 1993 Prix Goncourt. Middle Eastern cultures are more varied than many Westerners realize, and historical novels reflect that richness.
(1979), about a modern dealer in diamonds who travels to Jerusalem in quest of a diamond whose past is part of the history of the Jewish people.