{"product_id":"fencing-with-the-king-9781324050315","title":"Fencing with the King","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe King of Jordan is turning 60! How better to celebrate the occasion than with his favorite pastime--fencing--and with his favorite sparring partner, Gabriel Hamdan, who must be enticed back from America, where he lives with his wife and his daughter, Amani.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmani, a divorced poet, jumps at the chance to accompany her father to his homeland for the King's birthday. Her father's past is a mystery to her--even more so since she found a poem on blue airmail paper slipped into one of his old Arabic books, written by his mother, a Palestinian refugee who arrived in Jordan during World War I. Her words hint at a long-kept family secret, carefully guarded by Uncle Hafez, an advisor to the King, who has quite personal reasons for inviting his brother to the birthday party. In a sibling rivalry that carries ancient echoes, the Hamdan brothers must face a reckoning, with themselves and with each other--one that almost costs Amani her life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith sharp insight into modern politics and family dynamics, taboos around mental illness, and our inescapable relationship to the past, \u003cem\u003eFencing with the King\u003c\/em\u003e asks how we contend with inheritance: familial and cultural, hidden and openly contested. Shot through with warmth and vitality, intelligence and spirit, it is absorbing and satisfying on every level, a wise and rare literary treat.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"W. W. Norton \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50660952801554,"sku":"9781324050315","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3c2ee795-12cb-42e6-b141-bb67ffb5a7ca.jpg?v=1745859866","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/fencing-with-the-king-9781324050315","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}