Excerpt from A Calamity of Noble Houses by Amira Ghenim, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

I burst into bitter, oppressed sobs that would become fa¬miliar to me in Lella Bashira's house. But I want you to know, Hind, that I don't hold any resentment toward your great-grandmother. I forgave her from my heart the day she asked for forgiveness, lying on her deathbed, and that day I shed more tears for her than I had over the death of my own mother. She was a second mother to me, despite everything.

Did she, after that question, slap me on the face once or twice for a sin I hadn't committed? I don't remember. But I do remember that Lella Zbaida stopped shaking and came to her senses as soon as Hedda placed a heavy iron key in her hand (I don't remember where she got it from). A smile and rosy glow returned to my beautiful little Lella's face, and she went right back to chasing bees before I had even stopped sobbing, both from my personal distress and my concern for her. That incident was the beginning of a series of seizures that began to slowly space out until they had almost disappeared. This was thanks to the blessings of the holy saints that Lella Bashira vis¬ited and gave offerings to behind her husband Sidi Hajj Ali's back. Meanwhile, Lella Bashira learned how to heal her daughter with that metal tool. After her marriage, I brought the tool hidden in her trousseau; I showed her husband Sidi Mohsen where it was and taught him how to use it. So he knew to ask me for it on the dawn of that ill-fated day.

Excerpted from A Calamity of Noble Houses by Amira Ghenim. Copyright © 2025 by Amira Ghenim. Excerpted by permission of Europa Editions. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.