Recently published by Nofal, part of the Hachette Antoine group, is the novel "Camphor Paper" by Saudi writer Abdullah Al-Arfaj. The news agency Video reported on it in a narrative work that recalls the features of life in Najd during a period marked by hardship and migration in search of livelihood, raising questions of loss, longing, alienation, and clinging to original values.
The story revolves around "Sail," a young man from Najd whose life circumstances, following the outbreak of the plague in the Arabian Peninsula, compel him to leave Buraidah accompanied by eight men, heading to Kuwait in search of job opportunities and to fulfill ambitions. After moving between several professions, he works in diving for pearls, before his journey leads him to India, where he succeeds in trade and becomes wealthy.
However, the return journey home brings the protagonist a harsh surprise; some take advantage of his absence and spread the news of his death, leaving him to confront a new reality upon his return, having been listed among the dead, and finding that his wife, Al-‘Anood, has married another man during his absence against her will. This forms the central paradox of the novel, as the quest to regain life and family turns into a confrontation with the society and reality imposed by years of exile.
"Carmphor Paper" presents a human story that intertwines the journey of seeking a living with a longing for roots and explores the impact of social transformations on individuals’ destinies and their relationships, in a narrative retrieval of a phase from the history of the Najdi and Gulf society.
Abdullah Al-Arfaj is a Saudi writer with a master's degree in the sociology of literature and a PhD in cultural sociology, and he has several literary works, including the novels "Granada Does Not Know Me" and "Red Feathers," as well as the short story collection "Faces That Do Not See the Sun."
The new novel adds to Al-Arfaj's narrative experience a work that evokes the relationship between man, his homeland, and memory, making the return after absence a test of identity, loyalty, and the ability to reclaim what the person has lost in life's journey.