Minor Detail
Alolika Dutta, writer and photographer, Mulund

I read Adania Shibli’s book in a single sitting, and I was left deeply silenced by the subtle yet unrelenting barbarism of the story. The first half of the novel documents the capture, rape, and death of a young Bedouin girl, while the second half follows a journalist’s independent investigation into this ‘minor detail’ of the Nakba, reported precisely 25 years before her birth. For most of the second half, I assumed the protagonist was male. Who else but a man, privileged in his gender, would attempt to singly investigate a murder within the bounds of contested territory? It was only when I briefly flipped to the front of the book that I found the protagonist was a Palestinian woman. Thereon, I was in awe of her resolve, and I feared for her life.

Exploding the Phone
Surya Basu, technology consultant, Santacruz