THUNDERBIRD

A grieving girl, a djinn disguised as a cat, a kindly professor, and a time-travel quest form the heart of this atmospheric trilogy opener from Palestine translated from the Arabic.

Thirteen-year-old Noor has been bereft since her parents were killed in a plane crash two years earlier while traveling to London to share their exciting discoveries about the thunderbird, or phoenix, of ancient Philistine legend. She’s been nurtured by her loving grandmother, but when Teita dies, Noor is at the mercy of her weak-willed uncle, spiteful aunt, and jealous cousin. Worse, fires keep breaking out in Noor’s vicinity—although she staunchly denies responsibility. The arrival of a talking black cat and discovery of a phoenix design on her late father’s ring, which Teita gave her shortly before she died, send her to Dr. Samir, her late parents’ anthropologist friend in the West Bank. Dr. Samir and Noor investigate, learning that she’s connected to a prophecy about an imminent threat to the barrier between the human and djinn worlds. They brave the Israeli checkpoint to reach a Jerusalem museum where Noor is transported through a portal to the 16th century amid conflict between the Mamluks and Ottomans. She meets her doppelgänger, Andaleeb, and the girls seek the world-saving phoenix feathers. This richly descriptive novel paints a moving portrait of a lost, lonely girl; a historic land with a painful past and present; and an enchanting magical world. The cliffhanger ending will leave readers eager for more.

Intriguing, textured, and immersive.