Mother of All Pigs - Softcover

Malu Halasa is one of the most original writers and editors covering the Middle East... witty, sumptuous, and genuinely revelatory." --The New Statesman

"Halasa's prose is revelatory. Wholly authentic and profoundly insightful, Mother of all Pigs is a captivating look at the lives of a Middle Eastern family." --Foreword Reviews, *Starred Review*

"Halasa's sharp critiques and deadpan humor make for a captivating exploration of the intricacies of the modern Middle East." --Publishers Weekly

"Halasa juggles multiple narrative threads in her lively debut... the story wins high marks for its affectionate and raucous portrayal of one Jordanian family in the midst of social and political upheaval." --Booklist

"'It has always been the same -- what men enjoy, women endure.' So says a character in this microcosmic portrait of the contemporary Middle East, where the generational shifts among the members of one Jordanian clan showcase a patriarchal order in slow-motion decline. Halasa's pungently witty novel contrasts the ways in which the women of the Sabas family embrace or push back against tradition." --The New York Times

The Sabas family lives in a small Jordanian town that for centuries has been descended upon by all manner of invader, the latest a scourge of disconcerting Evangelical tourists. The border town relies on a blackmarket trade of clothes, trinkets , and appliances — the quality of which depends entirely on who’s fighting — but the conflict in nearby Syria has the place even more on edge than usual.

Meanwhile, the Sabas home is ruled by women — Mother Fadhma, Laila, Samira, and now, Muna, a niece visiting from America for the first time — and it is brimming with regrets and desires. Clandestine pasts in love, politics, even espionage, threaten the delicate balance of order in the household, as generations clash. The family’s ostensible patriarch — Laila’s husband Hussein — enjoys no such secrets, not in his family or in town, where Hussein is known as the Levant’s only pig butcher, dealing in chops, sausages, and hams, much to the chagrin of his observant neighbors.

When a long-lost soldier from Hussein's military past arrives, the Sabas clan must decide whether to protect or expose him, bringing long-simmering rivalries and injustices to the surface. Enchanting and fearless, Halasa's prose intertwines the lives of three generations of women as they navigate the often stifling, sometimes absurd realities of everyday life in the Middle East.