2019 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL WINNER ANNOUNCED.

The winner of the 2019 Man Booker international is CELESTIAL BODIES by Jokha Alharthi. I have never read this author but I am putting this on my tbr along with THE SHAPE OF THE RUINS by Juan Gabriel Vásquez.

Here is the synopsis -

Celestial Bodies is set in the village of al-Awafi in Oman, where we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla who rejects all offers while waiting for her beloved, who has emigrated to Canada. These three women and their families witness Oman evolve from a traditional, slave-owning society which is slowly redefining itself after the colonial era, to the crossroads of its complex present. Elegantly structured and taut, it tells of Oman’s coming-of-age through the prism of one family’s losses and loves.

It is translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth and published by Sandstone Press. Jokha Alharthi is the first Arabic-language author to win this prize so congratulations to her. :)