{{short description|2010 novel by Jokha Alharthi}} {{For|the large natural physical entities in space|Astronomical object}} {{Infobox book | name = Celestial Bodies | title_orig = سيدات القمر | orig_lang_code = ar | image = Celestial Bodies cover.jpg | caption = First English edition | author = [[Jokha Alharthi]] | language = Arabic | genre = [[Fiction]] | published = {{ubl|2010 {{small|([[Arabic]])}}|2018 {{small|([[English language|English]])}}}} | publisher = {{ubl|[[Dar al-Adab]] {{small|(Oman)}}|[[Sandstone Press]] {{small|(England)}}|[[Catapult Books]] {{small|(US)}}}} | isbn = 1912240165 | isbn_note = {{small|(Sandstone Press)}} | translator = [[Marilyn Booth]] | pages = 243 | media_type = Print, digital | set_in = | awards = [[International Booker Prize]] }}
'''''Celestial Bodies''''' ({{Langx|ar|سيدات القمر|translit=Sayyidat al-Qamar|lit=Ladies of the Moon}}) is a 2010 novel by [[Oman|Omani]] author [[Jokha Alharthi]]. The novel follows the lives of three sisters and their unhappy marriages in al-Awafi, Oman.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wood |first=James |date=2019-10-07 |title=An Omani Novel Exposes Marriage and Its Miseries |language=en-US |magazine=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/14/an-omani-novel-exposes-marriage-and-its-miseries |access-date=2023-06-04 |issn=0028-792X}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Cronin |first=Michael |title=Celestial Bodies review: Jokha Alharti is a distinctive and important new voice to world literature |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/celestial-bodies-review-jokha-alharti-is-a-distinctive-and-important-new-voice-to-world-literature-1.3884818 |access-date=2023-06-04 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref>
The novel has been translated into over 20 languages<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bedirian |first=Razmig |date=2020-02-08 |title=Jokha Alharthi struggled to get prize-winning 'Celestial Bodies' published in English |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/books/jokha-alharthi-struggled-to-get-prize-winning-celestial-bodies-published-in-english-1.975590 |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=The National |language=en}}</ref> and marks the first novel by an Omani woman to be translated into English,<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Silcox |first=Beejay |date=2019-10-21 |title=The First Arabic Novel to Win the International Booker Prize |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/books/review/celestial-bodies-jokha-alharthi.html |access-date=2023-06-04 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> as well as the first Omani novel to be translated to [[Italian language|Italian]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-25 |title='Celestial Bodies' becomes first Omani novel to get Italian translation |url=https://www.muscatdaily.com/2022/10/25/celestial-bodies-becomes-first-omani-novel-to-get-italian-translation/ |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=Muscat Daily |language=en}}</ref> The original novel won the [[Best Omani Novel Award]] in 2010<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-05-31 |title=Man Booker International Prize 2019 winner announced |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/resources/media/pressreleases/man-booker-international-prize-2019-winner-announced |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030193813/https://thebookerprizes.com/resources/media/pressreleases/man-booker-international-prize-2019-winner-announced |archive-date=2020-10-30 |website=The Booker Prizes}}</ref> and was longlisted for the [[Sheikh Zayed Book Award]] in the 'Young Author' category in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-12-14 |title=Overshadowed Zayed Book Award Announces Longlist in 'Young Author' Category |url=https://arablit.org/2011/12/14/zayed-book-award-announces-longlist-in-young-author-category/ |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2019, the English translation was awarded the [[International Booker Prize]], with Alharthi and translator [[Marilyn Booth]] equally sharing the £50,000 prize.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Edemariam |first=Aida |date=2019-07-08 |title=Jokha Alharthi: 'A lot of women are really strong, even though they are slaves' |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/08/jokha-alharthi-a-lot-of-women-are-really-strong-even-though-they-are-slaves |access-date=2023-06-04 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Celestial Bodies is also the first novel to be translated from [[Arabic]] to win the prize.<ref name=":1" />
== Reception == ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'' described ''Celestial Bodies'' as "a richly layered, ambitious work that teems with human struggles and contradictions, providing fascinating insight into Omani history and society",<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-27 |title=Celestial Bodies |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jokha-alharthi/celestial-bodies-alharthi/ |website=Kirkus Reviews}}</ref> while ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' expressed that the novel "rewards readers willing to assemble the pieces of Alharthi’s puzzle into a whole, and is all the more satisfying for the complexity of its tale."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-31 |title=Celestial Bodies |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-948226-94-3 |website=Publishers Weekly}}</ref>
''[[The New Yorker]]'' stated that Alharthi "gives each chapter, in loose rotation, to the voice of a single character, and so makes contemporary female interiority crucial to her book while accommodating a variety of very different world views",<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-07 |title=An Omani Novel Exposes Marriage and Its Miseries |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/14/an-omani-novel-exposes-marriage-and-its-miseries |website=The New Yorker}}</ref> while ''[[The Irish Times]]'' commented that the novel "deftly undermines recurrent stereotypes about Arab language and cultures but most importantly brings a distinctive and important new voice to world literature."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-05-18 |title=Celestial Bodies review: Jokha Alharti is a distinctive and important new voice to world literature |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/celestial-bodies-review-jokha-alharti-is-a-distinctive-and-important-new-voice-to-world-literature-1.3884818 |website=The Irish Times}}</ref>
== References == <references />
{{International Booker Prize}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:2010 novels]] [[Category:International Booker Prize–winning works]] [[Category:Novels set in Oman]] [[Category:Arabic-language novels]] [[Category:Novels about marriage]]