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Paradiso 17
Not yet published
Expected 17 Mar 26The intimate, sweeping tale of one man’s restless search for home the world over, as the pendulum of fate swings between loss and life, grief and euphoria, regret and hope
All his life, exile has been the shadow stitched to the sole of Sufien’s shoe.
Born in Palestine on the precipice of 1948’s Nakba, Sufien is forced to leave the only home he’s ever known, the one on the hill with a beautiful blue door. This is the precise moment when time stops making sense. He spends the rest of his life propelled forward, always on the way—although in search of what, he is never quite sure. In the dusty, oil-rich desert of Kuwait, he meets his first love and decides he must leave his family. In a small Italian university town, he spends his youth wrapped up in the sweet promise of the West and the forgetful assurance of wine. When life takes him to a gritty New York, he discovers his true vocation and falls for a Jewish woman born into a wholly different world. Finally, he finds himself recalled to the wild, vast open skies of the desert, in Arizona.
Sufien’s life spans friendships lost and maintained, a stint selling leathers at a tanner’s stall, the ineffable company of cats, and the freedom of the open road, the glowing pride of fatherhood, Sufi myths, prophetic dreams, and visions of the afterlife—and always, always, no matter how far he chases joy, the sweet, treacherous song of a balcony urging him to fly, to fall, to fall. The lyrical pages of Paradiso 17 weave in and out of time and space, beginning at the end and ending at the beginning. They are haunting, haunted with grief, struck through, as Dante once wrote, with “the arrow that the bow of exile / shoots first,” and yet they throb with light—not just the light that Sufien sees as he approaches his own end, but the brilliant light of a life lived.
Like all of our dead, Sufien still speaks, the book begins. Listen, this is his story.
All his life, exile has been the shadow stitched to the sole of Sufien’s shoe.
Born in Palestine on the precipice of 1948’s Nakba, Sufien is forced to leave the only home he’s ever known, the one on the hill with a beautiful blue door. This is the precise moment when time stops making sense. He spends the rest of his life propelled forward, always on the way—although in search of what, he is never quite sure. In the dusty, oil-rich desert of Kuwait, he meets his first love and decides he must leave his family. In a small Italian university town, he spends his youth wrapped up in the sweet promise of the West and the forgetful assurance of wine. When life takes him to a gritty New York, he discovers his true vocation and falls for a Jewish woman born into a wholly different world. Finally, he finds himself recalled to the wild, vast open skies of the desert, in Arizona.
Sufien’s life spans friendships lost and maintained, a stint selling leathers at a tanner’s stall, the ineffable company of cats, and the freedom of the open road, the glowing pride of fatherhood, Sufi myths, prophetic dreams, and visions of the afterlife—and always, always, no matter how far he chases joy, the sweet, treacherous song of a balcony urging him to fly, to fall, to fall. The lyrical pages of Paradiso 17 weave in and out of time and space, beginning at the end and ending at the beginning. They are haunting, haunted with grief, struck through, as Dante once wrote, with “the arrow that the bow of exile / shoots first,” and yet they throb with light—not just the light that Sufien sees as he approaches his own end, but the brilliant light of a life lived.
Like all of our dead, Sufien still speaks, the book begins. Listen, this is his story.
320 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication March 17, 2026
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3643 people want to read
About the author
Hannah Lillith Assadi
7 books70 followersHannah Lillith Assadi received her MFA in fiction from the Columbia University School of the Arts. She also attended Columbia University for her bachelor's where she received the Philolexian Prize for her poetry and fiction and graduated summa cum laude. She was raised in Arizona and now lives in Brooklyn.
Sonora
is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 7, 2026
One man’s life, a life in exile, heartbreaking and beautifully told. I was taken in at the prologue, the writing so lovely I had to read it again. The man Safien, speaking as he is dead, then moving forward as he is dying and then moving back in time to where his story begins taking us to the fateful day when he is five in 1948 when the war the war began and he was exiled from Palestine , the home he’d never see again. His journey from Palestine to Damascus to Kuwait, to Italy, New York and Arizona, alone, lonely, searching for his place is heartbreaking. It was difficult to read as Safien never seemed to find a home to give him a sense of belonging. A slow burn, but ultimately finding friendship, love, a family, through these hard times. Maybe that was enough to call home. The author expresses gratitude to her father, whose story she told him she would tell.
My only complaint was having to look up the meaning so many Arabic words and phrases . After a while in stopped looking them up as it interrupted my reading and I assumed the meaning of some of them. A moving and eye opening story of what the refugee experience might be like.
I received a copy of this from Knopf through NetGalley.
My only complaint was having to look up the meaning so many Arabic words and phrases . After a while in stopped looking them up as it interrupted my reading and I assumed the meaning of some of them. A moving and eye opening story of what the refugee experience might be like.
I received a copy of this from Knopf through NetGalley.
August 6, 2025
It feels so good to weep at the end of a novel
December 16, 2025
Gorgeous. Heartbreaking. Brimming with hope.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ebook. The story of Sufien starts as a child in Palestine whose family loses everything and is forced to flee the country in 1948. The family ends up in Kuwait and sends Sufien to University in Italy. When his father loses his job, Sufien is out of school and scrambling to sell leather goods at the crowded street market. Ready to head back to his family, he gets an offer to go and live in NYC and he feels he can’t say no. This rich novel is about how one man tries to find his home in this world. He comes close in the desert of Arizona, with a wife and child, but always that first house in Palestine is never very far from his dreams, making him uneasy no matter where he lands.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
This is a moving saga of a man continuously looking for his home whether in the Arabic world, New York, or Arizona. We follow this gentlemen from a young child through his death saga. We have a very close look at his life and his struggles in trying to find home and fulfillment with his wife and daughter.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is a sad tale of a dying man and his recounting of his life. I was given an advanced reader copy of this book by NetGalley and I am freely sharing my review. #netgalley #KnopfPantheonVintageandAnchorpublishing #hannahlillithassadi @netgalley @KnopfPantheonVintageandAnchorpublishing @hannahlillithassadi
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
fantastic and lyrical novel with impressive ideas and fantastic characters. the plotting is superb throughout. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Absolutely unforgettable. Beautiful
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews