In English translated from the Arabic.

880-03 Translation of: Siḥr aswad.

"A modern Arabic novel"--Dust jacket.

First published in Arabic in 2005.

"As a fourteen-year-old, Nasir was entranced by his father's gift of a camera, finding in it the means both to possess beauty and to assert himself. Now a hack working for state television, Nasir meets Fatin, an independent older woman who has escaped a suffocating marriage and is secure in taking what she wants from life. An affair begins that quickly pulls Nasir into a whirlwind of incandescent erotic and emotional obsession." "In a world of superficiality, materialism, violence, and sexual hysteria seen through the unforgiving lens of his camera, Nasir's life is in limbo. A yearning for escape and a fear of loneliness propel him into a relationship in which he is at once enraptured and noncommittal. The resolution of this volatile mix lies in a violent confrontation between repulsion and desire."--BOOK JACKET.