A01=Matthew Teller
Aladdin
Aleppo
Ancien Regime
Arabian Nights
Author_Matthew Teller
Category=NHG
Category=NHTD
Christmas books
Dan Brown
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
fairytales
forthcoming
literary mystery
Scheherazade
The Thousand and One Nights
Umberto Eco
Product details
- ISBN 9781805227250
- Dimensions: 135 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 12 Nov 2026
- Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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This is a book about stories and storytelling, and about celebrating a young storyteller whose name was almost lost to history.
When The Arabian Nights were first translated into European languages in the 1700s, they caused a sensation. Most were ancient tales, drawn from Arabic folklore. But perhaps the most famous of all, Aladdin, was completely new.
Centuries later, a discovery in the Vatican archives revealed that Hanna Diab, a young Syrian adventurer, had spun stories from his own extraordinary life to create Aladdin, his alter ego in fiction.
In this captivating case of literary deduction, Matthew Teller unearths the hidden history of the boy, the genie and his lamp, recovering a skilled storyteller hiding in plain sight.
Matthew Teller is an author, journalist and documentary-maker. He writes for the BBC, CNN, The Times, Financial Times, Independent and Guardian and presents and produces documentaries for Radio 4 and BBC World Service. He is the author of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem (2022) and the editor of Daybreak in Gaza (2024).
