Celestial Bodies
Winner of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize
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.
'Complex and tangled . . . the glimpses into a culture relatively little known in the west are fascinating.' — The Guardian
'A book to win over the head and the heart in equal measure, worth lingering over' — Bettany Hughes, Man Booker International Judge
'A beautifully achieved account of lives pulling at the edges of change.' — The Irish Times
'Blends the rhythms of daily life with magic and legend.' — Muhammad Barrada
'Delivers the reader immediately into the world of the marginal, forgotten, most subaltern sectors of society.' — Ibrahim al-Hajari
-
Free Shipping for orders $150+
Publishing has a diversity problem. There are less 'diverse' books being published which limits the discoverability and reach of those authors.
Representation is important. Read more about why we exist here.
An anti-racist social enterprise bookstore specialising in BIPOC books.
Only about 11% of books published are by BIPOC authors — so unless you specifically seek out books by BIPOC authors, you aren't likely to find very many of them organically. At Amplify, BIPOC authors are highlighted and celebrated. Here, they don't have to fight to be seen, and you don't have to fight to find them.
We hope that in our shop, you can discover a new favourite read, find stories that speak uniquely to you, learn about a culture outside your own (or more about your own histories), and gain a better understanding of the systems that connect us all.
Looking for something super specific?
Have a scroll through our tag directory to help direct your search and bring you to curated collections, as grouped by subgenres, identity markers, and more!
