FROM THE LITERARY INNOVATOR, WINNER OF THE SAWIRIS CULTURAL AWARD FOR SENIOR WRITERS (2018). In the historic landscape of 19th-century Nubia, Asha is born inside the sacred “Cave of Scarabs” high above the village of Al-Shabbak, just as her people survive decades of famine and war. But a terrifying curse soon strikes: no male child shall ever be born alive in the village, a supernatural punishment triggered when a resident kills the son of a river deity. Raised by a legendary oral storyteller, Asha grows up immersed in mythology. Asha: The Scarab and the Moon is a gorgeous, magical realist epic that weaves oral folklore with historical truths, celebrating female spiritual power and agency in the face of rapid, modern changes.