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Enter Ghost
Isabella Hammad
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WINNER OF THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE • Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction • Finalist for the Chautauqua Prize • A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book of the Year
“Assured and formidable.” — Wall Street Journal
After years away from her family’s homeland, and reeling from a disastrous love affair, actress Sonia Nasir returns to Haifa to visit her older sister Haneen. This is her first trip back since the second intifada and the deaths of their grandparents: while Haneen made a life here commuting to Tel Aviv to teach at the university, Sonia remained in London to focus on her acting career and now dissolute marriage. On her return, she finds her relationship to Palestine is fragile, both bone-deep and new.
At Haneen’s, Sonia meets the charismatic and candid Mariam, a local director, and finds herself roped into a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. Sonia is soon rehearsing Gertrude’s lines in Classical Arabic and spending more time in Ramallah than Haifa, along with a dedicated group of men from all over historic Palestine who, in spite of competing egos and priorities, each want to bring Shakespeare to that side of the wall. As opening night draws closer it becomes clear just how many violent obstacles stand before a troupe of Palestinian actors. Amidst it all, the life Sonia once knew starts to give way to the daunting, exhilarating possibility of finding a new self in her ancestral home.
A stunning rendering of present-day Palestine, Enter Ghost is a story of diaspora, displacement, and the connection to be found in family and shared resistance. Timely, thoughtful, and passionate, Isabella Hammad’s highly anticipated second novel is an exquisite feat, an unforgettable story of artistry under occupation.
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Posts about this title from Boundless Press
Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Sep 28 2025
the ultimate guide to fall book recs 🍂 30+ autumn books you need to read
let me know what books you'd recommend for the fall!
34 books
15
Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Mar 16 2025
books set around the WORLD that you need to read asap 🌍
book recs for this month's reading challenge to read books set outside of north america!!
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Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Oct 30 2024
[Today’s post is available for free followers as well because I thought it might be a nice preview into what you’re missing out on if you’re not a paid member and also so I could share my thoughts from this post specifically to a wider net of people. Without further ado…. \ \ Hello folks! You asked for more journal entries so here we are!\ \ I’m hoping to churn these out more often even if that means a quicker/less extensive check-in each week, but I have a decent amount to share today!\ \ \ \ What’s going on with me: \ \ It’s been a wild and hectic month honestly. Between my birthday at the start of october, the new york trip for the Bindery Fall Launch event [full details in this journal post], the busy-ness of my full time job (and its usual corporate woes iykyk), and some personal things going on— I’m honestly exhausted.\ \ However, I’ve been having a lot of great conversations with friends and specifically also with my lovely partner on what is driving me and what I want to focus my time on in this next stage of my life. I think my work with Bindery, the recent new york trip, and some changing circumstances in my personal life have started to help me refocus on what I want out of my time here on this dying planet.\ \ \ \ Some thoughts on youtube, making videos, reading and the future of my channel: \ \ Although I love making videos, and although my youtube channel has brought me incredible joy & drive in a time when I was struggling to keep going with life, I’ve been finding that it’s been bringing me a lot of pain and disappointment in these past couple years. And part of that has to do with the focus on views and my dependency on youtube & sponsorships as an income source for the very difficult financial situation my family has been in these recent years _[this may be news to you & I don’t really like to talk about it, but maybe someday i’ll share more] _but part of it is also the way I've robbed myself of a lot of my joy related to youtube and reading.\ \ These days it takes a lot out of me to edit a video and the concept of filming makes me anxious in a way that I haven’t been before. This isn’t because of any of you or my viewers—y’all are the loveliest bunch. But I think I’ve been trying to fit myself into the type of person who makes certain videos or talks about certain books or posts about certain content and it has been draining me immensely whenever these things don’t have the desired effect. And it honestly shouldn’t be that way! Part of that is the pressure I put on myself to be on par with others, but also me not sticking to who I am and valuing my time for myself.\ \ All this is to say that I want to go back to my roots. I want to read the books that interest me and I want to discover new and emerging authors from marginalized backgrounds who are writing incredible stories that I know need to be shared with the world. And even if that means I’m not reading what everyone else is reading or I’m not making videos that will generate a lot of views, and even if that means the content of my videos becomes more casual and more review focused vs vlog/challenge focused then I think that’s what needs to happen.\ \ I truly feel like the act of making content about books and the business side of it all has really come to ruin my enjoyment of it and also rob exceptional amounts of time from my life that in all honesty could’ve been spent reading!!\ \ So in these next months you may start to notice less intense, production heavy videos and more laidback content like my early days of youtube. You may see a slower video cadence in general—a video every 2-3 weeks—but hopefully you’ll be excited by all of the additional thought and excitement I can bring to your screen as I make room for more reading and thinking.\ \ \ \ Revisiting my soul’s oldest friend: writing \ \ Now we just talked about finding joy and returning to my roots. Something that has always been a part of my identity is writing. As surely as I discovered my love for reading and imagination and critical thought early on in life, I also discovered a passion for writing and working through the things I was feeling by writing my way through them.\ \ Although for most of my life the fiction I wrote helped me cope with my mental health issues, several years ago that stopped being the case, and if anything my inability to write in the midst of crippling depression became a further drain on my mental state.\ \ So I stopped.\ \ But recently, by the grace of some force in the world or perhaps a more stable and loving environment I’ve been able to cultivate between therapy, medication, and people in my life who add joy and meaning rather than pain and sorrow—I’ve been feeling the itch to write again in a way I haven’t felt in nearly eight years.\ \ This isn’t an announcement post and it isn’t a statement of any success I hope to achieve. It is rather just a moment where I’d like to share that I will be indulging my inner child once more and doing something that excites me in ways I haven’t felt in a long time.\ \ If you’re interested in my writing then I hope you’ll subscribe to my substack here: https://jananiekvelu.substack.com/\\ \ In the tradition of my old blogging days (pre-youtube channel), I’ve been working on some personal essays and articles on the ideas and narratives that have chased me in the wee hours of the night and I hope to humbly share some artfully crafted thoughts into the void and see if the void has something to say in return.\ \ Aside from the nonfiction I've been excited to write, I’m also going to start sharing more here for my wonderful Bindery paid members on the fiction I’m hoping to write. This will include some moodboards and concepts and a regular update on novel writing progress over the next month or so as I try to draft something new. Hopefully this will lead to also sharing excerpts of my novel and/or short stories down the line.\ \ How I’m doing ~ mentally ~ \ \ Honestly I’m watching and reading so much horrible news of continuous death and violence and feeling more and more hopeless by the day.\ \ But I’m chugging on to continue to make change where I can and also hoping to write on this topic soon.\ \ Otherwise, I’m feeling a sense of calm in my recent convictions, and excitement for what’s to come in this next phase of my life.\ \ \ \ What I’m working on this week: \ \
- Youtube: Just finished up two videos that are waiting to be approved by sponsors unfortunately, but those will be hitting your subscription boxes on youtube in the next few days!\ \
- Nonfic Writing: I’m working on an article/personal essay about the idea of hysteria, mental illness, and our conception of emotional women in fiction, as part of the first set of posts I release on my substack.\ \
- _**Fiction Writing: **_I’m working on refining a story concept for drafting over the next few months—some tidbits and teasers to come soon for Inner Circle & Associate Publisher tiers.\ \
- Boundless Press publishing: We’re currently in the process of trying to secure praise blurbs for Dust Settles North! This involves emailing a lot of connections and authors we admire and seeing if they’d be up to read_ Dust Settles North _and potentially provide an endorsement of it in the form of a short quote/blurb of their thoughts.\ \ \ \ \ What I’m reading: \ \
- I just finished _**Academy of Liars by Alexis Henderson **_and I am SHOOK. This one is a new favourite of all time and I have so many thoughts to share, more to come in a dedicated review post for Bindery paid members\ \
- Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad — I am a little behind schedule with this one but will be finishing it this week and am already in awe of the writing. If you didn’t know Enter Ghost is the October pick for my book club on the Fable app, The Boundless Book Club. Please download the app for free and join here , we’re currently voting on our November pick.\ \ \ \ \ What I’m watching: \ \
- A Virtuous Business — y’all I’m OBSESSED with this show. My partner and I started watching it the other day and have been hooked ever since. A Virtuous Business is a Korean drama that follows four women in the 1990s who get into the business of selling lingerie and adult products to keep themselves afloat. The show is a commentary on conviction, what we find shameful, and is a beautiful celebration of female friendships. It’s both funny, heartfelt, and gripping and I hope more people will check it out!!\ \ \ \ \ OK, that was a long one, but I hope you were able to take something meaningful away from this post! Let me know how you’re all doing, what you’re reading, and one thing thing that’s bringing you joy this week 💜\ \ ](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/aiNpbt71sY50pzpiORMF/)
Open for a long and a bit more personal update on my life. This is a FREE public edition so followers get a peek into what you're missing 😉
3 books
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Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Oct 28 2024
an exciting REVEAL!!! 👀 + a long overdue book haul 📚
20 books
Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Jul 5 2024
chatty life update & COVERS + july TBR
Let me know your thoughts on the covers + how your summer is going!! :)
4 books
6
Posts about this book from across Bindery
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Apr 25
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recommending books using their opening lines (a series!)
recommending books using their opening lines (a series!)
📚 books mentioned: - You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White - Hazelthorn by C.G. Drews - A Forbidden Alchemy by Stacey McEwan - Model Home by Rivers Solomon - These Memories Do Not Belong to Us by Yiming Ma - The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-ran, translated by Gene Png - Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad - I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea - Beasts of Carnaval by Rosália Rodrigo - These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa
thank you to Saga Press, Fierce Reads, Mariner Books, Bloomsbury Books, MIRA / HTP Hive, and Get Underlined for the gifted copies!
#bookrecsfromfirstlines #bookfirstlines #bookrecs #nycinfluencer #bookstagram @sagapressbooks @fiercereads @mcdbooks @marinerbooks @bloomsburybooksus @bloomsburypublishing @groveatlantic @readmirabooks @htp_hive @getunderlined
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book recs based on first lines • recommending books based on their opening lines • horror books • fantasy books • sci fi books • thriller books • literary fiction books • audiobooks • unique books • diverse books • MCD Books • Grove Atlantic
10 books
5
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Feb 20
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💭 are you a part of any book clubs?
to be fair, i think most books have great book club potential - but here are some that i think could lead to especially rich discussions!
📚 books mentioned: - These Memories Do Not Belong to Us by Yiming Ma - Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan - Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
👗💄: - eyeshadow is The Lord of the Rings Middle Earth Palette from Glamlite - eyeshadow shimmer is Atlantic and Midsummer from Ourbella Cosmetics - lip combo is Staining Lip Liner (La La La) from Kulfi Beauty and EmpowerGloss Ultra-Glossy Lip Serum (Liliana) from Thrive Causemetics - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)
thank you to Mariner Books and Mulholland Books for the gifted copies!
#bookclubbooks #literaryfiction #speculativebooks #nycinfluencer #bookstagram @marinerbooks @mulhollandbooks @littlebrown @groveatlantic @glamlite @ourbella.us @kulfi.beauty @thrivecausemetics
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good books for book club • book club discussion books • science fiction books • dystopian books • literary fiction books • horror and thriller books • speculative books • diverse books • Grove Atlantic
3 books
1
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Dec 12 2025
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🥒 YOU’LL NEVER ESCAPE PICKLE BOOKS!
🥒 YOU’LL NEVER ESCAPE PICKLE BOOKS!
💭 what the heck is a pickle book? thanks for asking! it’s something i made up. pickle books are books that leave you with a sour aftertaste - but in a positive way. those books that stick with you, haunt you a bit, change you for the better, or just really make you think. this is the latest in a long series of pickle book recommendation videos i’ve given.
📚 books mentioned: - Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad - Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler - We Have Reached the End of Our Show by Ali Gordon - How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder by Nina McConigley
👗💄: - jumpsuit is from Hutch, rented from Nuuly - eyeshadow is Lord of the Rings Middle Earth Palette from Glamlite - eyeliner is Epiphany Glow Melt-On from Kaleidos - hair gems are from Hally Hair - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)
thank you to Ali Gordon and Pantheon for the gifted copies!
#picklebooks #picklebookrecs #literaryfiction #fantasybooks #horrorbooks #dystopianbooks #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #diversebookstagram #nycbookstagram #bookstagram @groveatlantic @grandcentralpub @wildlingpress @pantheonbooks @hutch_design @nuuly @kaleidosmakeup @glamlite @hallyhair
4 books
1
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Nov 11 2025
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11/11 is 👹STEPH DAY 👹!!
📚 books mentioned: - The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar - Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker - Somadina by Akwaeke Emezi - Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei - The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez - You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White - The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko - Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones - The Coven Tendency by Zoe Hana Mikuta - Model Home by Rivers Solomon - Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad - The Reformatory by Tananarive Due - These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa
👗💄: - dress is from Chelsea Reece - eyeshadow is Mírame Eyeshadow Palette from Aora - duochrome eyeshadow is from Ourbella - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)
thank you to Tordotcom, MIRA Books/HTP Hive, Get Underlined, Flatiron, Tor Books, Saga Press, and Disney Hyperion for the gifted copies!
#fantasybooks #horrorbooks #scifibooks #bookrecs #birthdaybooks #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #diversebookstagram #nycbookstagram #bookstagram #FlatironPartner #SagaSaysCrew #sagapressbooks #SagaSays #TorPartner #FlatironPartner #GetUnderlinedPartner #HTPHivePartner @tordotcompub @readmirabooks @htp_hive @getunderlined @flatiron_books @torbooks @sagapressbooks @abramsbooks @aaknopf @disneybooks @mcdbooks @groveatlantic @bychelseareece @aoramakeup @ourbella_cosmetics
14 books
5
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Oct 3 2025
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🇵🇸 what’s your favorite book you’ve read by a Palestinian author?
🇵🇸 what’s your favorite book you’ve read by a Palestinian author?
the September Read For Palestine initiative raised £10,000 (double the goal)!!! and people are STILL making donations!! 📚 books mentioned: - Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd - Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad - The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders by Sarah Aziza
👗💄: - eyeshadow is Sparklestik (shades: frostiwinkle, the dreamies) from @halfmagicbeauty - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)
#ReadForPalestine #palestinianbooks #palestinianauthors #literaryfiction #nonfictionbookrecs #memoir #memoirbookrecs #haymarketbooks #groveatlantic #catapult #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #diversebookstagram #nycbookstagram #bookstagram @haymarketbooks @groveatlantic @catapult
3 books
7
Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Sep 28 2025
the ultimate guide to fall book recs 🍂 30+ autumn books you need to read
let me know what books you'd recommend for the fall!
34 books
15
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Sep 20 2025
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🍉 Read For Palestine update!
📚 books mentioned: - Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad - You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White - Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter - You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao
please be sure to follow the organizers Naseerah (@opacarophvlia) and Ross (@readsbyross) for more information. their fundraiser is also in the ⛓️💥place on my profile.
thank you to Saga Press for the gifted copy!
#ReadForPalestine #palestinianbooks #bookrecs #literaryfiction #horrorbooks #warriorcats #romancebooks #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #diversebookstagram #nycbookstagram #bookstagram @groveatlantic @sagapressbooks @avonbooks
4 books
1
Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Aug 30 2025
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🍉 Read For Palestine this September!
🍉 Read For Palestine this September!
please be sure to follow the organizers Naseerah (opacarophvlia) and Ross (@readsbyross) for more information. their fundraiser is also in the ⛓️💥place on my profile.
📚 books mentioned: - Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa - Blood Orange by Mx. Yaffa - Squire by Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh - Minor Detail by Adania Shibli - Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
#ReadForPalestine #palestinianbooks #bookrecs #literaryfiction #fantasybooks #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #diversebookstagram #nycbookstagram #bookstagram @atriabooks @merajpublishing @quilltreebooks @fitzcarraldoeditions @ndpublishing @groveatlantic
5 books
Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Mar 16 2025
books set around the WORLD that you need to read asap 🌍
book recs for this month's reading challenge to read books set outside of north america!!
23 books
4
JemilaBeReadin\ \ JemilaBeReadin\ \ • Feb 20 2025
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Books I’ve discovered through booktok
Books I’ve discovered through booktok. It’s been real y’all. I hope to continue talking about books with y’all elsewhere on the internet! 🫶🏾 People mentioned in this video: @dakota bossard @Amivi⁷ @Alex @IG/YT: bookbaddiebri ᥫ᭡ @sometimesrobinreads🤎📚 @Torri🌻 @Kennedy Ryan @Nisha Sharma @schizophrenicreads on Substack @aubrei @Mari - booktok + media reviews @ig: vivafalastinleen 🇵🇸 @Hana 🍉 @Viano Oniomoh 💖 #readersoftiktok #bookishthings #bookishtiktok #booktok #bookrecommendations #romancebooktok #nonfictionbooktok #literarytok #blackromance #bookishtok #readersofbooktok
22 books
3
Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Oct 30 2024
Open for a long and a bit more personal update on my life. This is a FREE public edition so followers get a peek into what you're missing 😉
3 books
7
Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Oct 28 2024
an exciting REVEAL!!! 👀 + a long overdue book haul 📚
20 books
Boundless Press\ \ Jananie\ \ • Jul 5 2024
\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/yA9Gk8ixvBApuZedxDlC/)
chatty life update & COVERS + july TBR
Let me know your thoughts on the covers + how your summer is going!! :)
4 books
6
Left Unread Books\ \ Michael LaBorn\ \ • Jun 3 2024
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[Hello, everyone! I know that for many of you, Tiktok and Instagram are working to keep you from seeing all of the Palestinian content you would like to. So I thought I would collect a small number of books for you here! Most of these are written by Palestinians, but a few were written by anti-zionist Jewish people and American civil rights activists.\ \ Non-Fiction:\ \
- The Hundred Years War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi\
- Palestine Hijacked by Thomas Suárez:\
- Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis\
- **The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe **\
- We are not here to be Bystanders by Linda Sarsour\
- Looking for Palestine by Najla Said\
- Poets for Palestine by Remi Kanazi\ \ \ \ FICTION:\ \
- Against a Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa\
- Ida in the Middle by Nora Lester Murad\
- Mother of Strangers by Suad Amiry\
- Something More by Jackie Khalilieh\
- Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad](https://leftunreadbooks.binderybooks.com/item/haKplwLVaQRvu1Bd82kG/)
Here is a compiled list of some of the books I have come across highlighting Palestinian liberation/stories. I have already read a few of these and plan to make my way through the rest as I'm able!
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