What do Saddam Hussein, actor Richard Burton and a mermaid named Alieph have in common? They all play bit roles in Diana Abu-Jaber’s lyrical new novel, Crescent, about Sirine, a 39-year-old Iraqi-American chef in Los Angeles, and her love affair with Hanif Al Eyad, an Arabic literature professor and Iraqi exile haunted by his past.Hanif fled the country shortly after Saddam Hussein took power, but the Iraqi regime killed his sister and imprisoned his brother. The risk of danger if he returns is great, but he yearns to see his ailing mother once more.Sirine is the child of an Iraqi immigrant and his American wife who both perished while working for the Red Cross in Sudan, leaving their young daughter to be raised by a beloved but eccentric uncle.It is her uncle who tells Sirine magical Arabic folktales spiced with history, weaving Richard Burton, Omar Sharif and a mermaid into a fantastic story that frames the novel in style reminiscent of 1,001 Arabian Nights.Abu-Jaber, a writer-in-residence at Portland State University and the author of the 1993 novel Arabian Jazz began working on Crescent during a teaching stint at UCLA in 1995, when she spent time at a little Lebanese cafe in the heart of the city’s Iranian district, the Tarantula.Publisher W.W. Norton will release Crescent in April. Abu-Jaber signed a contract with the firm last year, before the Bush administration began beating the drums for another war with Iraq, but her editor is confident it will do well, given an upsurge in demand for information on the West Asia and the novel’s page-turning appeal. (Reuters)
