Inspired by Farid Ud-Din Attar’s twelfth-century Sufi poem, The Conference of the Birds, Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela tells the story of three Muslim women living in Scotland. They embark on a road trip to visit the grave of Lady Evelyn Cobbold, a Scottish convert to Islam and the first British woman to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca.The three friends are plagued with doubts about their paths in life. Salma, the self-appointed leader who organizes the trip, is a massage therapist and happily

This is my first novel by this author and it definitely won’t be my last. I was there for the stories that were told, I was totally hooked. This story follows three Muslim women, Salma, Moni and Imran, as they set out on a trip into the Scottish Highlands to see the grace of Lady Evelyn Murray, the first white Muslim woman to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. This trip turns into a pilgrimage of sorts, one of the mind and the soul. Along the way they learn more about each other, their friendship and...

This was meant to be the ultimate threat, the winning card. If you don't carry the bundle of your crippled son, drape yourself in a black abaya and hop on a plane to Saudi, your husband will take another wife. You will be replaced; your spot will be taken. pg. 155This is a strange book. As usual, I went into this novel completely blind. I had no idea what it was about. I had no information about the book. Imagine my surprise when it turned out I was reading magical-realism.The book starts off no...

I could'nt connect with any of the characters. I found them annoying and just meh. I tried really hard to find any sympathy and anything to like the book.

Aboulela writes with a palpablity that makes the pages fly by and the characters speak in a voice that makes them come alive.'They kept silent when they should have spoken out.'Aboulela's montage of three very different women on a road trip to pay respects drips with a complexity of identity and is resonant with empathy.Salma, Iman, and Moni are all at different points in their lives, where questioning their experiences, past and present, power their actions, thoughts, and reactions. At its core...

The first book I have read by Leila Aboulela, an author I've wanted to read for some time, being someone who grew up in one culture and has experienced life in another culture, of the variety that interests me, the opposite of the colonial visitor. There was a time when literary insights into other cultures came predominantly from male explorers of anglo-saxon cultures, now we are increasingly able to read stories of how it is to be a woman coming from an African or Eastern culture or country, l...

Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela is a heartwarming story of friendship, faith, identity, family, and journeys to self-knowledge. At its centre are Iman, a beautiful young Syrian refugee who fled the war and made her way to Scotland, Moni a Sudanese woman who once held a corporate job but is now married and the main carer for her beloved young son who has cerebral palsy, and finally there is Salma, an Egyptian woman who married a white Scottish convert and has a happy home with him but feels aliena...

Updated August 2021 Made this a BookOfCinz Book Club pick and I am so happy I did! Wow! What an adventure! Perfect exploration of sisterhood! In Leila Aboulela’s Bird Summons we meet three women who are going on a road trip to the Scottish Highlands for a week. What could possibly go wrong? On the road trip is Salma, Moni and Iman. They all decided to go when everyone in the Muslim Women’s ground decided to pull out… out of sheer pettiness Salma decided she is going, just to show everyone who

The story follows three women-Salma, Moni and Iman-as they undertake a pilgrimage to the grave of  Lady Evelyn Cobbold, the first known Western woman to undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca. The characters often veer towards caricature, the paper thin veils with which Aboulela dresses their personalty punctuated intermittently by demonstrations of depth, whether it is Iman's tepid act of rebellion or Salma's harmless flirtation. Whilst 'Bird Summons' should be praised for depicting three Muslim women...

“They saw worldliness encroach upon the sacred, the secular triumphing over the religious, how this life became more important than the next.”When I purchased Bird Summons a couple of weeks ago from London-based Arabic bookstore Al-Saqi, I had no plans to visit Scotland. If I had known at the time that I would shortly be enacting the very story myself, I would have certainly read it then and there. Call it fate or a routine impulse buy—I didn’t choose this book, this book chose me. Centering on

Book 47 of 20213.75 ish, a very insightful and reflective read.I enjoyed a lot about this book and the three protagonists.Full review coming soon.

"Bird Summons" by @leilaaboulela is a strange, sometimes dreamy, often heavy, and yet deeply evocative read. It is perhaps one of the most unique Muslamic fiction I've yet read - magical realism, with Muslim characters and deeply meaningful spiritual themes.Readers of Aboulela's previous books will recognize the emotional weight that her characters bear and navigate. In this book, we follow three very different Muslim women: young, beautiful, tragic Iman - widowed and divorced multiple times alr...

I have a soft spot for Leila Aboulela's writing. A quiet force, with the ability to depict nuanced Muslim women, stories that never feel like trauma porn, and not othering her characters. Bird Summons begins with three women who are not quite friends but a little more than acquaintances, choosing to go on a road trip together, searching for a wondrous sight - Lady Evelyn Cobold's grave, the first Scottish woman documented woman to have undertaken a pilgrimage to Mecca. A journey that each hope m...

When a woman like Leila Aboulela writes about the triumphs and trials of Muslim women from different backgrounds, we are no longer begging for accurate representation rather we find that emotions are perfectly captured!This story held my heart from the very first sentence: 'she had hired a coach, then when the women started pulling out after the anger over the photo, a minibus, then when the numbers fell still further, a people carrier, then when there were just three of them, Salma decided to t...

4 1/2 stars actually. This is the most different novel by the Sudanese-Scottish author Leila Abuleila.Up to now I have loved everything I have read from her, with The Kindness of Enemies being my absolute favourite. Her other books are realistic, so I was caught off guard at first by the myths, folk and fairy tales, as well as the magical realism in this one. I love all these genres, but I was just not expecting it in this book! The story starts out normally enough. Three friends, all Muslim wom...

It has to be a 5 star read. The folklore mixed with religious and moral lessons. I loved that there was no preaching morality or religion but gentle nudges to be the best human one can be, to let life be honest and accept it's changes. To live and grow is as sure as our eventual death. That the more things change the more they remain the same. As always Aboulela grips me with her writing and makes me close my eyes and think deeper. The dystopian end was a bit hard for me to fully grasp and I thi...

I was struggling with this book, couldn't sympathise with the three main figures, found them quite annoying and couldn't relate to their stories. I admit that reading a book is not always about finding the main figures nice and relatable, rather also about learning from someone else's experiences that might not be yours, but a reading experience is usually so much nicer when you can relate. Also, style helps, and the style, switching from a realistic description to some sort of supernatural fant...

I loved Aboulela's The Translator, a stunning novel. I also liked her early novel, Minaret.Bird Summons was disappointing to me. I liked it well enough for the first half, a realistic more mainstream treatment than her others. I appreciate that the novel centers on friendship, in particular among women, as I don't think that important relationship is explored enough in literary fiction.The novel moves from realism to the more fantastical, first with some elements, and then ultimately, to a full...

4.5 🌟 ruthless and deep and full of love for scotland and grief for the displaced. Unflinching, profound and hopeful, this novel was as familiar and strange as years in Muslim Student Associations and ISOCs - where the vein of your old faith throbs in a way that doesn’t feel like home, is neither welcoming or unwelcoming, a rope and a crutch and in need of nourishment as much as you needed it to nourish you.

What an insightful, thought provoking read!