The Jinn Daughter: Enchanting novel mixes Syrian mythology with mysticism

American-Syrian neuroscientist Rania Hanna makes her striking debut as an author with her novel The Jinn Daughter.

Combining aspects of Syrian mythology and folklore, Hanna has crafted a mystical world in homage to her roots.

Both the Muslim faith and Syrian culture believe in the existence of jinns, a supernatural creature made of smoke that can be inherently good or evil in the same way as their human counterparts.

"The fairytale-like and bizarre scenes elevate the story's mystique and are reminiscent of a mature and Middle Eastern Grim Brothers tale"

Understanding the jinn-human relationship

The story focuses on Nadine, a jinn woman whose job is to tell the stories of the dead and help them pass on to their eternal resting place.

Vibrant ruby-red pomegranate seeds fall outside her remote cottage every morning, and her task is to collect them, for they are the souls of the dead. Her only companions are her adolescent daughter, Layala, who is half-jinn and half-human, and the lingering spirits.

The mellifluous novel takes on a rapid pace once it is revealed that Kamuna, death herself, seeks to replace her mantle with Layala. Nadine ventures between the world of the living and dead on a desperate quest to save her daughter from a somber fate.

Her past is gradually revealed, and far more sinister truths are exposed about the disparate lives of humans and jinns. Through Nadine, Hanna has weaved an emphatic and unparalleled tale of motherhood that tactfully explores the tragedies of isolation and the insidious consequences of human avarice.

Reading Nadine's narration is to witness adroit artistry. She is a jinn responsible for being a Hakawati, the dead's keeper. As a young girl, she fell in love with a human boy, and they both bore the wrath of his influential and tyrannical father, Sheikh Hamadi.

She recounts her love story with Ilyas, Hamadi's only son. Their passionate but sincere love culminated in Layala amidst the jinn wars.

According to Nadine, jinns were powerful beings whose abilities were coveted by humans. This rapacity led to their attempted extermination and alienation.

If they were not slain, they were imprisoned and enslaved. Although Nadine is an asset in maintaining the delicate balance between the living and the dead, after the jinn wars, she remains ostracised by society. Being the mother of the only granddaughter of Sheikh Hamadi is the only thing that protects her, though his enmity towards her and jinns never fizzles out.

As she navigates her outlandish world of ghouls, sorcery, and potions and encounters death herself, Nadine must also contend with the battle of raising a teenage daughter as a young widow. Layala will defy her mother's will and prove to be a fiery spirit in the face of Nadine's all-encompassing love and sacrifices.

The sentiment of being transported to another world is a prosaic statement, yet it profoundly embodies the experience of reading this novel.

Readers will feel like they have stumbled upon an ancient text of legends and wisdom. Guiding the dead to pass on is not the only ability Nadine possesses.

Her magic feels boundless and evokes a youthful nostalgia in the adult reader. In many scenes, she renders humans, animals, and jinns alike into inanimate clay figurines, raising them to life at her will. She seamlessly, though chillingly, enters the realm of the dead and becomes intimate with their souls. And if the circumstances are aligned, she may even be able to reverse death.

"The Jinn Daughter is a remarkable, atmospheric, and intensely evocative fantasy tale. Though frustrating at times, the emotional poignancy of Nadine and Layala's bond will make the reader briefly feel inextricably linked with their grievances and hearts"

A spellbinding tale

Hanna's prose makes healing potions, macabre rituals, nefarious beasts, and cryptic villains visceral and organic. While the fantastical nature of this tale takes centre stage, there is humanity in all the characters.

Despite their mysticism, they are not free from suffering the grief of solitude, war, and the complexity of family dynamics as they live life in the shadow of death.

While Nadine can visit her husband in the underworld, it is only a vestige of his true self. His form is smoke; the touch she longs for will always be a dream. Layala, who loves her mother and grandfather, must reconcile that the two only tolerate each other because of her existence and that her grandfather was ultimately responsible for the demise of her jinn ancestors. Regrettably, his pure love for her does not negate his lifetime of brutality.

Their heartache mimics that of reality. The desire to feel a deceased loved one in their tangible and flesh form, however, knowing that yearning will only ever be a memory, is agonising and deftly illustrated by Hanna in not only Nadine's widowhood but in several other characters.

Even the cryptic villains are humanised with tragic pasts, reminding us of the intricate nuances of people and that painful circumstances often incentivise them. The story's simplicity does not detract from how it echoes our world. Instead, it astutely underlines the issues we toil with globally.

Hanna does not detail the history of the jinn wars; however, the ramifications have unquestionably determined the characters' lives in Nadine's world. As aforementioned, jinns were coveted by humans for their abilities. History can attest that man has also plundered and slaughtered in the name of acquiring power and wealth.

Like the jinns who had no control over being born as they were, people have been persecuted and exploited for their ethnicities, religions, and land. Traditions and cultures survive only because of the resilience demonstrated by characters like Nadine.

The Jinn Daughter is a remarkable, atmospheric, and intensely evocative fantasy tale. Though frustrating at times, the emotional poignancy of Nadine and Layala's bond will make the reader briefly feel inextricably linked with their grievances and hearts.

Hanna has managed to transcend the boundaries of fiction and reality, creating multifaceted characters to harmoniously blend Middle Eastern traditions and mythology with the genuine depths of human turmoil and psyche.

Hanna herself has expressed that her source of inspiration is her Syrian heritage, which is replete with rich food and folklore. She has taken both to thread a haunting and indelible narrative.

The fairytale-like and bizarre scenes elevate the story's mystique and are reminiscent of a mature and Middle Eastern Grim Brothers tale. Ultimately, The Jinn Daughter will leave all who have the privilege to read it in a spellbound and wistful state of reflection.

Noshin Bokth has over six years of experience as a freelance writer. She has covered a wide range of topics and issues including the implications of the Trump administration on Muslims, the Black Lives Matter movement, travel reviews, book reviews, and op-eds. She is the former Editor in Chief of Ramadan Legacy and the former North American Regional Editor of the Muslim Vibe