The Honey

A Palestinian girl's transgression has strange repercussions (""little waves of consequence that travel like vibrations"") in Zeina B. Ghandour's The Honey. Young, impulsive Ruhiya gives the morning call to prayer as her father lies on his deathbed, even though it is forbidden under Islamic law for a woman to do this. Elliptical and lyrical, this is less a novel than a glimpse into the minds of the five narrators: Ruhiya herself; Yehya, her childhood love and a would-be terrorist; his father, Farhan; Maya, a foreign journalist; and Asrar, the little girl who was the only eyewitness to Ruhiya's deed.