Faysal, Palestinien trentenaire, reçoit un mystérieux faire-part de décès. Mais qui est donc cette tante Rita ? Intrigué, il abandonne son amant et sa vie en Europe pour retourner à Jabalayn, son village natal. Dans le palais déserté de son enfance, il erre. Le passé resurgit, fastueux et lourd de secrets. Alors que plane la menace d’une annexion imminente, qu’une famille et un pays sont au crépuscule, l’esprit de Faysal bascule. Karim Kattan nous donne à lire un premier roman troublant, à la fois tendre et violent, qui explore les contradictions de l’engagement politique et de la mémoire.

Faysal, a Palestinian in his thirties, receives a mysterious death notice. But who is this Aunt Rita? Intrigued, he abandons his lover and his life in Europe to return to Jabalayn, the village of his birth. He wanders around the deserted palace of his childhood. The past resurfaces, sumptuous and laden with secrets. With the threat of imminent annexation looming, and a family and a country in their twilight years, Faysal's mind is turned upside down. Karim Kattan has written a disturbing first novel that is both tender and violent, exploring the contradictions of political commitment and memory.