With more than 21,000 copies in print of Women Of Sand And Myrrh, and more than 15,000 copies of The Story Of Zahra, Hanan al-Shaykh is the best known and most admired woman writer of the Arab world. The paperback publication of Zahra will bring this passionate and courageous novel to a much larger group of readers. Its haunting story of a young Lebanese woman who attempts to stem the violence in Beirut by initiating a sexual liaison with a sniper has "lifted the corner of a dark curtain" (Sunday Telegraph) from a world that fascinates us all.