الهوى

A very special love story

Translating Arabic titles is no easy feat, and in trying, we recieved several very different suggestions. In the end, "Passion" seemed like the best fit for this book.With Passion/الهوى , Franscesca dell´Orto has created a tale of love that is both fascinating and very relatable. 

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A couple sits close, surrounded by love and a beautiful garden. Turning the pages, we see the couple moving further and further apart, until they are literally at opposite ends.​ At the end, they find back together.  The storyline is probably relatable for most adults who has ever been in a long-term relationship: The ebb an flow of intimacy, how daily life and chores takes a toll on passion, and how life, miracolously, has a tendency to restore the relationship so that love and intimacy is again at the center of our lives.

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Dell´Orto proves to be a master silent storyteller. The increasing distance between the couple is pictured very subtly, slowly sliding to opposites sides of the doublespreads, but also by the added distractions - more papers, more birds, more flowers, reaching a dramatic peak at the middle spread that folds out to complete chaos: A hoarder´s home, with papers everywhere and no place to sit, rest, bathe or breathe anymore.​There is a happy ending - a more mature love appears when the couple finally finds back together, illustrated by the couples visible ageing. 

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This is not a typical children's book, but at Fabel silent book library we have introduced it to groups of children as well as to adults. Children often interprets it as a story of friendship, of how friends also fall apart and finds back together. A couple of children related it to parents fighting and making up. Young and adult readers alike are mesmerized by all the abundance of the tiny details of dell´Ortos artwork: The intricate collages of different techniques, resulting in pages of such detail that reading them is a delightful, but time-consuming task.​

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الهوى is published in Arabic and reads from the right to the left. It is a large, hardcover book, a thing of beauty: The colors, endpapers, the middle fold-out-pages, everything works perfectly together. All illustrations, except the fold-out page, are full spreads.

A great present for your loved one, a beautiful reminder to keep close.​

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