Alif the Unseen - Hardcover

Alif the Unseen is a terrific metaphysical thriller, impossible to put down... A multicultural Harry Potter for the digital age. * Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollahs' Democracy and The Ayatollah Begs to Differ * G. Willow Wilson conjures up a tale of literary enchantment, political change, and religious mystery. Open the first page and you will be forced to do its bidding: To read on. * Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked * Marvelous... Intoxicating... Hugely entertaining. Wilson has a Dickensian gift for summoning a city and peopling it with memorable characters... True and scary... It doesn't take magical powers to predict it will be one of the year's best-loved books. * Washington Post * Wilson works magic... An exuberant fable that has thrills, chills and - even more remarkably - universal appeal * New York Times * A Harry Potter-ish action-adventure romance [that] unfolds against the backdrop of the Arab Spring... Improbably charming... A bookload of wizardry and glee. * New York Times * G. Willow Wilson has a deft hand with myth and with magic, and the kind of smart, honest writing mind that knits together and bridges cultures and people. You should read what she writes. * Neil Gaiman * Wilson writes beautifully, tells a great story, and even makes computer hackery seem like magic. -- Alison Flood * Sunday Times * Charming and original * Sunday Telegraph * Brilliant... witty, imaginative and unorthodox in all senses * Observer * An exhilarating techno-thriller but also far more than that... Wilson has created in this rich, literate novel a profound dialogue between tradition and modernity, belief and non-belief, fairy tale and urban reality. * Guardian *

'I will tell you a story, but it comes with a warning; when you hear it, you will become someone else.' He calls himself Alif - few people know his real name - a young man born in a Middle Eastern city that straddles the ancient and modern worlds. When Alif meets the aristocratic Intisar, he believes he has found love. But their relationship has no future - Intisar is promised to another man and her family's honour must be satisfied. As a remembrance, Intisar sends the heartbroken Alif a mysterious book. Entitled The Thousand and One Days, Alif discovers that this parting gift is a door to another world - a world from a very different time, when old magic was in the ascendant and the djinn walked amongst us. With the book in his hands, Alif finds himself drawing attention - far too much attention - from both men and djinn. Thus begins an adventure that takes him through the crumbling streets of a once-beautiful city, to uncover the long-forgotten mysteries of the Unseen. Alif is about to become a fugitive in both the corporeal and incorporeal worlds. And he is about to unleash a destructive power that will change everything and everyone - starting with Alif himself.