Eden at Dawn

A heart-wrenching love story between two young Palestinian men in a land swept by sandstorms, burdened by occupation, and haunted by spirits.

In the labyrinthine city of Jerusalem, where poets woo their lovers with tales of jinns, lions, and warriors, Isaac and Gabriel pass in the streets, unaware of one another until a fifty-day wind brings enough sand to blot out the heavens. From their first meeting, desire blooms, hesitates, withdraws, and returns in a heady romance recounted by the sky itself, who cranes past rooftops and through windows to glimpse the pair. Defying checkpoints, desert squalls, and blazing heat, Gabriel and Isaac embark on a road trip through Jericho and past the Dead Sea to a storied village in the West Bank--a daring act in a divided country.

Lyrical and languorous, shattering and profound, Eden at Dawn is a feast of love in the midst of war. With this North American debut, lauded author Karim Kattan proves that storytelling is the ultimate act of devotion.

Karim Kattan, a Palestinian writer born in Jerusalem in 1989, grew up in Bethlehem. He holds a doctorate in comparative literature and writes in French and English. His collection of short stories, Préliminaires pour un verger futur (2017; Elyzad poche, 2024), was a finalist for the Prix Boccace. In 2021, his first novel, Le palais des deux collines (Elyzad poche, 2024), received the Prix des Cinq continents de la francophonie. With L'Éden à l'aube (Eden at Dawn), he confirms the richness of his hybrid literary universe, mixing orality and classical culture, realism and the marvelous. He lives in Paris.

Jeffrey Zuckerman is a translator of French literature. His work centers on contemporary fiction from mainland France and Mauritius--including Ananda Devi, Shenaz Patel, and Carl de Souza--as well as texts of the queer canon, including Jean Genet and Hervé Guibert. A recipient of the PEN/Heim Translation Grant, the French Voices Grand Prize, and a National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship, he has been named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.