THE STORYTELLER (or The Hakawati): Rabih Alameddine: THE al-Kharrats are a loveable, irrepressible family going through a difficult time.

Osama has returned to Beirut after a long absence to be with his ailing father and join the vigil around his bedside.

Since storytelling runs in the family’s veins – his grandfather was a legendary hakawati – this is no peaceful, reverential scene.

It is one of gossip and imagination, of tales remembered and tales invented, of love affairs and civil war, of myths and feisty heroines, warriors and music and not a little magic.

The author – his surname is a variant of Aladdin – was born in Jordan to Lebanese parents and he has lived in Kuwait, Lebanon, England and the US. He has written two previous novels and a collection short stories. This glorious novel is a 21st Century Arabian Nights, full of adventure, mischief and surprise, and crossing continents and spanning centuries. Running to over 500 pages, it is a spellbinding novel which could become a modern classic.

Published by Picador, June 12, £7.99 (paperback).