Surveying what appears as familiar ground, Hedy Habra's Flying Carpets plunge deep into the bygone and the irrecoverable. Steeped in childhood memories of Egypt and Lebanon, and intensified in the act of fictional recollection, Habra's stories are joyous and tragic at once, witty and profound. In Habra we have a Sheherazad of our times, not one trying to save her life, but one intent on bringing enchantment, gravitas, and sensitivity to ours. This is a book full of marvels, beautifully written.–Khaled Mattawa, author of Amorisco and Tocqueville
