The Emerald Garden

by Raja Malah

Description

On every day off, the child – the central character – visits his grandmother who lives in her old house amidst a flower garden at the foot of a mountain. The book describes one of those visits so we can better understand the grandmother's personality, who is full of love and tenderness. We experience this visit through the child's narration of the details as he relates all the beautiful moments rooted in his heart and memory with great love and appreciation for his grandmother.

 

Days, months and years pass by – the wheel of life turns and the grandson becomes a father, then a grandfather. One day he decides to visit his grandmother's house with his grandchildren. The house had been transformed into a public park as per his grandmother’s wishes, as a gift to the people of the neighbourhood and their children, to enjoy the tranquillity and beauty of that garden she loved and cared for her whole life. During that nostalgic visit, reality mixes with imagination and the present with the man’s past and he finds himself facing strange manifestations: the garden sparkles with precious stones and the fig tree near his heart bears emeralds, which surprises him, as if he is prey to the hallucination of imagination, only to discover the name chosen by the mayor for his grandmother's garden – a name that reinforces his vision of "Emerald Garden".

 

Age Range: 10+ years

More Information

Rights Information

Rights sold:


English - Bookland Press
French - Bookland Press

Marketing Information

Shortlisted for the 2021 Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Children’s Literature

Author Biography

Raja Malah is an architect from Morocco, she holds a master's degree in city planning from the University of Paris X - France. Besides her work as an architect in Dubai, she is interested in writing for teenagers and children. Her most important books are:



  • Hadyaty La Eed Miladak (My gift for your birthday). Medad Publishing - Dubai. 2018.

  • Ajnehat Taaeraty (The wings of my plane). Dar Al Moualef - Beirut. 2019.

  • Hadyqat Al Zomorrod (The Emerald Garden) Dar Al Moualef - Beirut. 2019.


She also has a few translation works, the most important ones being:



  • Antologia Al Shaer Al Imarati Al Moaaser (Ontology of contemporary Emirati poetry) - translated from Arabic to French, Ministry of Culture, Abu Dhabi – 2007

  • Ayna Kano Yaktoboon (Where were they writing) – translated from French to Arabic, Thaqafa Publishing, Abu Dhabi

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Sheikh Zayed Book Award

Sheikh Zayed Book Award

The SZBA is presented to writers, intellectuals and publishers whose writings and translations of humanities have enriched Arab cultural, literary and social life.

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Bibliographic Information

  • Publisher Dar AlMoualef and Maalem
  • ISBN/Identifier 9786146542284
  • Publication Country or regionMorocco
  • Pages40
  • ReadershipChildren
  • Publish StatusPublished
  • Original Language TitleHadyqat Al Zomorrod
  • Copyright Year2019

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