--- title: 'Celestial Bodies' Is a Rich Portrait of a Changing Oman description: Jokha Alharthi’s 'Celestial Bodies' is the first novel originally written in Arabic to win the Man Booker International Prize canonical: https://time.com/5696964/celestial-bodies-jokha-alharthi-review/ author: Naina Bajekal article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-10-10T09:53:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T07:31:55.694Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Review: A Newly Translated Novel Charts the Dizzying Transformation of an Independent Oman og:description: 'Celestial Bodies' is the first novel originally written in Arabic to win the Man Booker International Prize og:url: https://time.com/5696964/celestial-bodies-jokha-alharthi-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e69809fb376e5e6/698a04104ee2625eb731664e/celestial-bodies-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: celestial-bodies og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Review: A Newly Translated Novel Charts the Dizzying Transformation of an Independent Oman twitter:description: 'Celestial Bodies' is the first novel originally written in Arabic to win the Man Booker International Prize twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e69809fb376e5e6/698a04104ee2625eb731664e/celestial-bodies-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Newly Translated Novel Charts the Dizzying Transformation of an Independent Oman > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Naina Bajekal](https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/)  ## Naina Bajekal Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME. Oct 10, 2019 9:53 AM UTC   by [Naina Bajekal](https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/)  ## Naina Bajekal Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME. Oct 10, 2019 9:53 AM UTC “When we are away from home, in new and strange places, we get to know ourselves better,” Abdallah, the son of a rich merchant, thinks as he gazes out an airplane window. It’s a sentiment that will resonate with many readers who immerse themselves in the rich, dense landscape of Jokha Alharthi’s _Celestial Bodies_, newly translated into English. The novel has already made history–as the first by an Omani woman to be translated into English, and the first originally written in Arabic to win the [Man Booker International Prize](https://time.com/5696202/nobel-prize-literature-2019/). (Marilyn Booth shares the award for her translation.) Through the lives of three sisters and their families, Alharthi charts the dizzying transformation of Oman in the decades after it achieved independence from Britain in 1951\. During that time, the Gulf state redefined itself and opened up to Western commerce. Originally published in 2010 as _Sayyidat al-Qamar_ (_Ladies of the Moon_), the novel is written in short, experimental chapters that shift between streams of consciousness and memories and across multiple timelines. Alharthi alternates the first-person voice of Abdallah, the son of a slave trader (Oman only abolished slavery in 1970), with a third-person viewpoint following the sisters and multiple other characters. The results are mixed–the cast is so broad that it’s impossible to follow the story without regular glances at the family tree provided. But the variety of perspectives is effective in offering a window into a country that few Western readers will know intimately. _Celestial Bodies_ is strongest in its exploration of how the changes in Oman affect women: within one generation, they are exposed to ideas from abroad and start moving away from cloistered, rural life. But Alharthi, who began writing the novel while homesick in Edinburgh as she completed her Ph.D. in classical Arabic literature, pushes past stereotypical narratives of Muslim women defying patriarchy, instead illustrating the difficulties of balancing tradition and newfound freedoms. 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