Amman — Novelist Mohammad Hafez presents in his new novel, Between Love and Desire, published by Kafaa Knowledge Publishing and Distribution House, a family and social story in which feelings of love and loyalty intersect with hatred and the desire for revenge. Through characters undergoing emotional and family transformations, the novel explores confrontations and choices that shape the course of their lives.
اضافة اعلان
The novel, which consists of two parts, follows Ahmed as he moves into a new apartment, where he meets his neighbor Salma and the two develop romantic feelings for each other, only for Ahmed to discover that she is involved with someone else. As events unfold, Salma marries Akram, but her married life becomes caught in a cycle of disputes and tensions, eventually leading to separation. A new chapter then begins, in which feelings of love become intertwined with hostility and a desire for revenge.
Alongside this story, the novel examines the characters’ daily lives and family responsibilities, including the burdens they carry toward their children and parents. It offers a portrait of human relationships when subjected to difficult tests, while highlighting the impact of personal values and attitudes on whether relationships endure or collapse.
The novel also addresses national issues. Hafez wrote the work against the backdrop of the war on Gaza and made the characters’ attitudes toward what is happening there an influential element in the development of the story. The writer believes that attitudes toward the Palestinian cause and the war on Gaza reveal the characters’ moral and humanitarian positions, ultimately becoming a decisive factor in how marital relationships are viewed and whether they continue or end.
Through this intersection between the personal and the public, Hafez places his characters before a clear dichotomy: love, goodness and loyalty on one side, and hatred, selfishness and revenge on the other. The novel thus becomes a space for reflecting on the impact of emotions and attitudes on people’s destinies, and on the ability of love to confront hatred when the latter turns into a desire to cause harm and seek revenge.
The novel explores human and family relationships through the dichotomy of love and hatred.
In the novel’s introduction, Hafez notes that he wrote the work against the backdrop of the war that erupted in Gaza in October 2023. He explains that its events unfold alongside the killing, destruction and displacement witnessed in Gaza, although the novel’s protagonists are not directly involved in the war, but rather express their positions toward it.
The writer believes that the war exposed the positions of many people and revealed the difference between humanitarian and national attitudes and indifference, considering that this aspect was reflected in the development of the novel’s characters and their respective paths.
Hafez stresses that the presence of the homeland in a writer’s consciousness is reflected in their work. Although Between Love and Desire is a social and family novel, he says, it carries a clear presence of Arab and national issues, foremost among them the Palestinian cause.
The writer makes the characters’ attitudes toward what is happening in Gaza a decisive criterion in assessing marital relationships. These positions become an influential factor in determining whether married life remains stable or becomes troubled and ultimately ends.
Hafez describes the novel as a story of love and passion set against hatred and revenge, but ultimately as a story of love and loyalty. He emphasizes that love is one of its central themes, contrasted with the character of Akram, whose hatred and selfishness drive him to escalate his hostility toward Ahmed and seek revenge against both him and Salma.
The events of the novel unfold along two contrasting paths: one governed by hatred and the desire for revenge, and the other built on goodness, love and loyalty. Between Love and Desire raises questions about the impact of human values and attitudes on relationships and their ability to determine the destinies of those who hold them.
Resource: Al-Ghad.
