This treaty essentially divided the country between the more cosmopolitan, secular, pro-British Muscat tradition of the coast, ruled by the Sultan, and the more traditional, insular, and tribal interior, ruled by an Imam according to the ideological tenets of Ibadism. The repercussion of the 1920 Treaty of Sib, a treaty “between the Sultan of Muscat and the Imamate of Oman, recognising Omani autonomy within the interior regions of Muscat and Oman, which was a British protectorate at the time” (see Wikipedia), serves one key motif. Based on the story of two Omani families, brought together by marriage, and a lengthy cast of surrounding characters (the family trees at the start is invaluable to the reader) it gives, by its impact on the characters and by the analogy of their changing lives, a fascinating insight into the history and modernization of Oman over four generations, across the 20th century and into the early 21st. This year’s winner of the Man Booker International Prize is an interesting choice by the judges, a book whose strengths lie in its deep cultural insights and clever construction. Of all the celestial bodies, the moon is closest to the matters of this lower world. The moon moves between high and low, between the sublime and the filth of creation. The moon is the treasure house for what is on high and what lies below.
