The Slightest Green

A Novel

Published by Interlink Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
LIST PRICE $28.00

About The Book

A moving multigenerational novel by the celebrated Palestinian American author of The Beauty of Your Face

In the middle of dinner one evening, Intisar Jaber receives a phone call that will upend her quiet life in Chicago: her father is dying and she must go to Palestine to pay her final respects. But Intisar hasn't seen or heard from Hafez for nearly two decades, ever since he abandoned her and her mother to join the resistance.

After a fateful mission, Hafez was thrown into the notorious Gahana Prison to serve a life sentence—permanently removed from her life. As soon as Intisar arrives in his village of Bayt al-Hawa, she discovers what it means to be a stranger in her ancestral land, the inheritance of loss, and the high price of freedom.

Meanwhile, Hafez’s mother Sundus battles to save the home that she built with her husband from thieving hands. Will Intisar, her estranged granddaughter, help Sundus fight to reclaim it? Can they close the gaping distance between them before it’s too late?

Powerfully etched in Sahar Mustafah’s honest and lyrical prose, The Slightest Green explores the place—and people—we call home and how far we will go to reach them.

About The Author

Sahar Mustafah is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, an inheritance she explores in her fiction. Her debut novel The Beauty of Your Face was named a 2020 Notable Book and Editor’s Choice by New York Times Book Review and one of Marie Claire Magazine’s 2020 Best Fiction by Women. It was long-listed for the Center for Fiction 2020 First Novel Prize, and was a finalist for the Palestine Book Awards. Her short story “Star of Bethlehem” was awarded the Lawrence Prize for Best Fiction in 2022, and “Tree of Life” won the 2023 Robert J. DeMott Prize. Her recent fiction is featured in Stories from the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction and 'The View from Gaza' published in The Massachusetts Review. She was awarded a 2023 Jack Hazard Fellowship from New Literary Project and an Illinois Arts Council Grant. Mustafah writes and teaches outside of Chicago.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Interlink Books (November 11, 2025)
  • Length: 248 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781623715830

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Raves and Reviews

“Stunning … A timely family saga with faith and forgiveness at its core.”

– Marie Claire

“How each member of the family finds his or her footing is worthy of an entire series of books, but Afaf’s particular strain of determination and optimism is what propels you to the end of this one … A story of survival and hope, forgiveness and connection.”

– Elisabeth Egan, New York Times Book Review

“Rich and complicated.”

– Heather John Fogarty, Los Angeles Times

The Beauty of Your Face explores faith, family, and hate with haunting precision.”

– Emily Firetog, Literary Hub

“Sahar Mustafah’s sophomore novel is nothing short of magical … a story of the diaspora, of the eternal calling for Palestine, that is gorgeous and illuminating. The past lives on, it cradles us, it strengthens us. A must-read.”

– Susan Muaddi Darraj, PEN/Faulkner Finalist, Behind You Is the Sea

“The wrenching latest from Mustafah (The Beauty of Your Face) finds a Palestinian American woman torn between her life in the US and her father’s homeland. As Intisar weighs whether to give up her job in Chicago or a piece of her father’s legacy, Mustafah unfolds a poignant story of familial sacrifice and cultural identity. This will move readers.”

– Publishers Weekly

“The novel is a reminder of how many Palestinian lives have been uprooted by the Nakba, and how much return plays a part, whether it materializes or not. Fragmented families, and loss of land remain an integral component of the Palestinian experience, and how resistance is also shaped by personal loss of both family and land. Sahar Mustafah does not end her novel on a triumphant note, but on a decision that builds upon the Palestinian struggle for Intisar and her family, and one that mirrors the Palestinian fight against displacement.”

– Middle East Monitor

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