São Paulo – The Coin is the debut novel by 35-year-old Palestinian writer Yasmin Zaher. Through its protagonist’s journey, the book explores memories tied to identity, belonging and class. The award-winning novel, which received recognition in the United States, was inspired by Ukrainian-born writer Clarice Lispector, who lived in Brazil. Zaher has said in interviews that Lispector led her to write in an “uncontrolled” way, without thinking too much about what she was saying.
Published in Brazil by Cosac, the novel follows the protagonist’s life in New York, where she lives on an allowance from her older brother, funded by an inheritance from their parents, who died in an accident. The Coin unfolds around the protagonist’s intense preoccupation with cleanliness and her relationship with a refined man she begins working for.
The title The Coin comes from a childhood memory: during a family trip, the protagonist is said to have swallowed a coin that remained inside her body for the rest of her life, although she feels no discomfort or other sign that she had actually swallowed it. Throughout the novel, Palestine emerges through the protagonist’s past, her memories and her life with her parents.
Collection of poems and essays
Another release from Cosac is If I Must Die, by Refaat Alareer. A Palestinian poet and professor, Alareer was killed in an Israeli bombing in Gaza in 2023, along with his brother, sister and four nephews and nieces. The book, now being made available to Brazilian readers, is a collection of essays and poems written from 2010 until the year of his death, in which he shares his resistance to the conflict in his homeland and his thoughts on literature and politics, among other topics. Both books are expected to be available in physical and online bookstores by the end of this month.
Details
A moeda
Yasmin Zaher
304 pages
BRL 89.00
Cosac
Se eu tiver que morrer – prosa e poesia
Refaat Alareer
264 pages
BRL 89.00
Cosac
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Book features Middle Eastern short stories
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
