The Old City of Jerusalem comes alive in Ahmad Nabil’s Hidden Companions, a testimonial and visual archive of Palestinian folklore, now translated into English.

A man wakes every day to find coins under his pillow, a young lonely girl strikes up a friendship with a spectral voice, a veiled woman changes form to delude ordinary senses, a petite girl in all black breaches a group of young girls returning from a wedding, a goat and her two kids draw an unsuspecting young man into a hidden room, a group of curious boys conjure the spirit of Marx. Jinns and ghouls, guardians and tricksters, wizards and possessors. In the Old City of Jerusalem, the Unseen beings are a natural element of everyday life.

With rich, vivid descriptions and in stunning illustrations, Ahmad Nabil weaves a literary account of paranormal stories: held, shared in whisper networks, relayed over conversations, and passed down as inheritance. This English translation by Fatema Alhashemi traces a captivating world largely unseen in popular narrative. 

Size: 5.85" x 8.27"
ISBN: 979-8-9894902-2-6
Pages: 136