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 slowly redefining itself after the colonial era, to the crossroads of its complex present. Elegantly structured and taut, Celestial Bodies is a coiled spring of a novel, telling of Oman’s coming-of-age through the prism of one family’s losses and loves.
Winner of the Mann Booker International book prize 2019. All welcome to discuss – you don’t even have to be a Sunday Assembly (but it might help… ). Contact Jenny Clarke or message Sunday Assembly Edinburgh if you’d like to come. Thursday 7th November, 7.30pm, Atholl Crescent (West End) location.