Vanished

An engaging and thought-provoking work by a writer deeply rooted in the continuing travails of the society he grew up in. Omar, a young Palestinian in Gaza’s largest refugee camp, spends his life searching for his long-vanished father, aided by his loyal friend, Ahmed. Omar soon finds himself precariously tangled in the many arms of Israel’s violent occupation of Gaza in the 1980s and 1990s, as swirling tides of resistance arise, clash, and threaten to engulf it. Vanished, first published by Rimal Books in Cyprus in 2015, is a powerful first novel from the British Palestinian writer, playwright, and theater director Ahmed Masoud. It was shortlisted for the MEMO Palestine Book Awards in London in 2015, where the awards jury described it as "fast-paced and compelling." It went on to win numerous plaudits from international media.