The Palace on the Higher Hill is both a novel about the West Bank and also a contemporary French novel in its structure and references. It is about the collapse of a monied, cosmopolitan, high-class Christian Palestinian family and what happens after such a family has collapsed.
Faysal returns to his homeland after the death of an aunt he barely remembers, only to be confronted by the ghosts of his family's past. The Palace on the Higher Hill is a novel about love, belonging, family, queerness, language, food, home, community, place, joy and hate. It is a powerful poetic read.
Published before the events of 7 October, The Palace on the Higher Hill offers a completely different vision of Palestine. Everyone has a story and there are so many dimensions that lie beyond the usual narratives, with lots of nuance, when writing about Palestine.
The BookBlast® Translation Book Club meets in person on the second Monday of each month, hosted by Georgia de Chamberet, at Hatchards, Piccadilly, to discuss recently published works of fiction in English translation.
Hear special guest, Richard Village, linguist, translator and founder of Foundry Editions, give insights into The Palace on the Higher Hill by Karim Kattan translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman.
Presented by Georgia de Chamberet | Edited by Gemma Jackson | A BookBlast® Production
