--- description: Find out why "Bitter Orange Tree" by Jokha Alharthi is on TIME's list of the must-read books of the year. title: 'Bitter Orange Tree' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2022 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2c473e5e759dd17/698a37a8d075334ab2e6d773/BitterOrangeTree-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 14, 2022 # Bitter Orange Tree by Jokha Alharthi by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Jokha Alharthi won the Man Booker International Prize (now the International Booker Prize) for [_Celestial Bodies_ ](https://time.com/5696964/celestial-bodies-jokha-alharthi-review/ "undefined")in 2019\. The story in her follow-up novel is at once epic and ordinary: it recalls harrowing tragedies and petty family squabbles, chaste romances and epochal cultural shifts brought on by international wars. At its heart is Bint Aamir, a woman who perseveres through Oman’s transformation from a traditional rural society into a modernized state. Alharthi’s prose, which was translated from Arabic into English by Marilyn Booth, is at once stark and breathtakingly descriptive. —_Andrew R. Chow_ **Buy Now**: _Bitter Orange Tree_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781646220038 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3tff9l2 "undefined") **Contact us at** [letters@time.com](mailto:letters@time.com?subject=%28READER%20FEEDBACK%29%20Stay%20True&body=https%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2Fcollection-post%2F6228627%2Fstay-true%2F "undefined")**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228439/bitter-orange-tree/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228439/bitter-orange-tree/"},"headline":"Bitter Orange Tree","datePublished":"2022-11-14T12:58:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:11:34.403Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228439/bitter-orange-tree/","keywords":["Books","list","best books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2c473e5e759dd17/698a37a8d075334ab2e6d773/BitterOrangeTree-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2c473e5e759dd17/698a37a8d075334ab2e6d773/BitterOrangeTree-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228439/bitter-orange-tree/","name":"Bitter Orange Tree"}}]}] ```