Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

Miral

A Novel

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

Now a major motion picture from award-winning director Julian Schnabel, starring Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire)

Written by the much-admired Italo-Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal, Miral is a novel that focuses on remarkable women whose lives unfold in the turbulent political climate along the borders of Israel and Palestine.

In 1948, as violence erupts in Jerusalem, a young Arab woman, Hind Husseini, finds fifty-five abandoned children and faces the biggest challenge of her life—changing their destiny. She dedicates her life to providing the children with love and education, and establishes the Dar El-Tifel orphanage. As the years pass and the conflict rages on, Hind finds that—despite her best efforts—some of her older students are taking part in the violent struggle for Palestinian independence, including one of her brightest students, Miral, whose mother died tragically when her daughter was only five. Hind desperately races to save Miral from this legacy of destruction. But is she too late?

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Sneha Mathan is a well-chosen narrator for this epic tale of love growing apace with political instability and injustice in Jerusalem. Mathan's ability to convey strong female characters is central to enjoying the two female protagonists in this emotional coming-of-age story as one of them, a young woman named Miral, wrestles with choosing between nonviolence and insurgent action against the wishes of her family. A precise cadence, in an accent not exactly British or American, is the narrator's trademark feature in this reading as she traces the lives of two very different women against a backdrop of escalating political conflict. M.R. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 30, 2011
      Jebreal refracts the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of the experience of generations of Israeli and Palestinian women, focusing ultimately on Miral, a young Palestinian orphan who comes of age in the shadow of the intifada and gradually joins the resistance. Sneha Mathan's dignified delivery has a light, indistinctly Middle Eastern accent that lends the narration authenticity. She infuses emotion through emphasis and tonal shifts, but never crosses into the overdramatic. Despite an ever-shifting cast in the first half, she keeps vocal consistency of the characters and moves into other accents seamlessly. A Penguin paperback.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 14, 2010
      This novel of a Palestinian girl growing up amid the intifada is packed with historical facts, but never rises above mediocrity. Philanthropist Hind Husseini creates a children's shelter in 1948 in response to the destruction wrought by the first Arab-Israeli war. Decades later, Miral comes into Hind's care after her mother kills herself. As Miral witnesses the effects of the Israeli campaigns against the intifada, she draws closer to the political fringes, finally choosing to join the struggle in full. Yet the benevolent influence of Hind and an eye-opening friendship with an Israeli socialist subdues Miral's radicalism and offers some hope for the future. Jebreal is a successful journalist in Italy, and true to form the plot rips along with quick-reading prose, though the characters' simplicity presents a big problem, in that, despite the dire circumstances, it's hard to connect with archetypes. It's perfectly serviceable and offers a reliable refresher of the Palestinian struggle, but there are many more distinguished novels on the subject.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Loading