Historical Fiction Middle East

Gate of the Sun: Bab al-Shams is the first true magnum opus of the Palestinian saga. Through the passing of the beloved midwife and matriarch of the Shatila refugee camp outside Beirut, the listener enters a world of displacement, fear, and tenuous hope. A doctor tells a story to a man in a coma in an attempt to keep him alive. The patient, Yunes, is from Galilee, where he left Nahla, the love of his life. The novel unfolds at his bedside through Dr. Khalil’s intimate and haunting flights of memory.

In this Newberry Medal-winning novel, Daniel bar Jamin is fired by only one passion: to avenge his father's death by crucifixion by driving the Roman legions from his land of Isreal...

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR from NPR Set in Jaffa in between 1947 and 1951, this “fable-like historical novel of young love ... darkly humorous and touching” (Oprah Daily) is based on a true story during the beginning of the destruction of Palestine and displacement of its people. Based...

Two enemies. One war. No way home but through each other. In the chaos of the Iran–Iraq War, nineteen-year-old Iranian conscript Reza Hashemi and battle-worn Iraqi sergeant Adnan Karim are cut off from their units after a night of shelling tears the front apart. Stranded in the no-man’s-land between two armies, they face a landscape mined, poisoned, and flooded — where every step could kill, and every choice could betray. Forced to rely on a shared language spoken in different rhythms, and a sheer will to live, the two men navigate trenches, chemical clouds, and the deadly marshes of ...

Ranofer struggles to thwart the plottings of his evil brother, Gebu, so he can become master goldsmith like their father. Young listeners will love this exciting tale of ancient Egyptian mystery and intrigue.

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a defining moment of the modern era. Its success unleashed a wave of Islamist fervor across the Middle East and signaled a sharp decline in the appeal of Western ideologies in the Islamic world. Michael Axworthy takes listeners through the major periods in Iranian history over the last 30 years: the overthrow of the old regime and the creation of the new one; the Iran-Iraq war; the reconstruction era following the war; the reformist wave led by Mohammed Khatami; and the present day, in which reactionaries have re-established control.

★ THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ★ Raised to protect her nation from the monsters lurking in the sands, sixteen-year-old Imani must fight to find her brother, whose betrayal is now the country's greatest threat. Get swept away by this romantic fantasy! In the hidden desert city of Qalia...

Jerusalem, 1947: Judith, a young Jewish woman who survived Dachau concentration camp, arrives in Palestine after a treacherous journey and seeks refuge with her only remaining relative, her uncle. When Judith learns her uncle has died, she tries to take her own life in despair. In Hadassah Hospital, Hana, an Arab nurse, saves Judith’s life by donating her own blood. A fragile bond of friendship develops between the two women, but it will face a harsh test over time.

New York Times best-selling Grand Master Elizabeth Peters is at her stylish and suspenseful best in a richly woven tale of greed, treachery, and murder set against the tumultuous backdrop of wartime intrigue.

In this sweeping, timely thriller, a Palestinian American FBI agent teams up with a hardline Israeli cop to solve the murder of the Israeli police chief in Gaza—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Looming Tower and The End of October. "A layered tale of intrigue and betrayal...

In this audiobook, master storyteller Jim Weiss introduces young listeners to some of the most fascinating people and events of the Middle Ages. Attila the Hun makes an empire shake with fear. Sir William Marshall outfights every opponent - yet shows mercy even to his enemies. Hildegard of Bingen writes beautiful music - and writes advice letters to kings and queens! Muhammad changes the map of the world, and inspires a faith that guides millions of people. Eleanor of Aquitaine fights for power in a world ruled by men. Moses Maimonides heals illnesses of the body and the spirit.

At the start of 1991, 11-year-old Ali Fadhil was consumed by his love for soccer, video games, and American television shows. Then, on January 17, Iraq's dictator, Saddam Hussein, went to war with 34 nations led by the United States. Over the next 43 days, Ali and his family survived bombings, food shortages, and constant fear. Ali and his brothers played soccer on the abandoned streets of their Basra neighborhood, wondering when or if their medic father would return from the war front. Cinematic, accessible, and timely, this is the story of one ordinary kid's view of life during war.

He built monuments, but he destroyed everyone he loved. Herod the Great ruled the Holy Land for thirty-seven years, transforming a backwater province into the jewel of the Roman Empire. His architectural marvels—including the magnificent Second Temple—still inspire awe today. But behind the golden façade lay a man consumed by paranoia, whose quest for absolute power would cost him his family, his soul, and ultimately his sanity. From his rise as a young military commander to his final, blood-soaked years, “Herod the Great: The Last King” traces the epic tragedy of history’s most ...

From the "Unsung Heroes of the Bible" series comes the inspiring true story of the young scribe who risked everything to preserve God's word. While most children know about the prophet Jeremiah, few have heard of Baruch ben Neriah—the faithful scribe who stood beside him through persecution, imprisonment, and exile. In "Baruch the Faithful Scribe," middle grade readers discover how one ordinary young man's dedication to accuracy and truth helped preserve the very words of God for future generations. When King Jehoiakim burns Jeremiah's prophecies, Baruch must rewrite every word while ...

A New York Times bestselling novel of international suspense and terror from the author of The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, A Column of Fire, and The Evening and the Morning As Egypt comes closer and closer to developing a nuclear bomb, the Mossad’s number one Israeli agent is...

A family secret revealed 40 years ago by a grandmother to her grandson is now an acclaimed Russian historical fiction novel. A Hundred Sweet Promises is the tale of the author’s grandfather, Nasrosoltan, a famed composer, who on the eve of World War I travels from Persia to Russia to study classical music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with such masters as Rimsky-Korsakov.

In this first of a series of four novels, the Jewish rebellion begins in a backdrop of secret tunnels and assassins, where the dreaded Sicarii can strike like lightning and blend back into the crowd just as quickly. Even trained Roman mercenaries are no match for them.

Told through intimate diary entries, this fiction series unfurls the extraordinary sagas of the Bible's best-known characters through the eyes of ordinary girls. In Book 3 of The Promised Land Diaries, Alisah, a young nursemaid, must leaver her family to live with beautiful Rebekah in order to help her aging nurse Deborah and care for her growing household. Alisah learns of Rebekah's generous spirit and witnesses firsthand the tender love story of Rebekah and Isaac.

Fifteen-year-old Charlotte is restlessly coming of age in early twentieth-century Basra, Iraq. The daughter of a Seattle doctor and missionary, Charlotte craves an adventure of her own making. Just the thought of the steppes, hills, valleys, and the winding river stirs Charlotte’s imagination and sends her compass of flight dancing. So, preferring the wondrous unknown to solicitude, Charlotte packs up copies of her father’s Gospels and a statue of the Baby Jesus and runs away.

Two women. Two revolutions. A lifetime of exile and longing. In 1978, seventeen-year-old Omid is forced to flee Iran on the eve of the Islamic Revolution, leaving behind a mother whose defiance against the regime has made her a marked woman. Arriving in America, Omid believes her stay will be temporary. But when her mother is declared a fugitive, her dreams of return collapse, and she is left to build a life in exile—one shaped by loss, resilience, and the echoes of a past she cannot escape. Three decades later, Omid is a mother raising her daughters in Connecticut, trying to bury the ...