Advertisement
Books

Your Wish Is My Command review: Feminist debut of extraordinary skill

Your Wish Is My Command is a graphic novel like no other from a remarkable new talent

This new release is a startlingly original piece of creativity. Your Wish Is My Command by Egyptian author Deena Mohamed is a 500-page hardback debut graphic novel of extraordinary illustrative and literary skill, as emotionally engaging as it is eye-opening. The story is set in an alternative modern Cairo where wishes are real and are bought and sold in a controlled market. There are three categories of wishes, first class being rare and powerful, third class common and unreliable. Mohamed’s tale is in three parts, each concerning a central character who has to decide what to do with their wish.

Your support changes lives. Find out how you can help us help more people by signing up for a subscription

Aziza is faced with bureaucracy and state control when she is widowed and tries to execute her wish. Nour is a college student struggling with anxiety and depression, who prevaricates about the best thing to do with the wish they’ve bought. Then there’s the elderly shopkeeper Shokry, who struggles with his religious convictions when trying to use his wish to help a friend.

The moral conundrums of the wishers reverberate far beyond their own situations. Doing the right thing is never easy, and this powerful debut confronts that reality head on with style and confidence.

Your Wish Is My Command by Deena Mohamed

Your Wish Is My Command by Deena Mohamed is out on January 10 (Granta, £19.99).You can buy it from The Big Issue shop on Bookshop.org, which helps to support The Big Issue and independent bookshops.

Doug Johnstone is a writer and musician

Advertisement
Advertisement

This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income.To support our work buy a copy! If you cannot reach your local vendor, you can still click HERE to subscribe to The Big Issue today or give a gift subscription to a friend or family member. You can also purchase one-off issues from The Big Issue Shop or The Big Issue app, available now from the App Store or Google Play.

Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

Read All
Gliff by Ali Smith review – ingenious and warm anti-establishment storytelling
Books

Gliff by Ali Smith review – ingenious and warm anti-establishment storytelling

Ground by Jadelin Gangbo review – hope for healing amid the wreckage
Books

Ground by Jadelin Gangbo review – hope for healing amid the wreckage

Horrible Histories author Terry Deary: 'The most important day in history is tomorrow'
Books

Horrible Histories author Terry Deary: 'The most important day in history is tomorrow'

Top 5 books in rhyme, chosen by children's author Vicky Cowie
Books

Top 5 books in rhyme, chosen by children's author Vicky Cowie

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue