This is a short, brutal and brilliant novella exploring the experience of women living in occupied Palestine. <i>Minor Detail</i> describes the rape of murder of a Bedouin woman by IDF forces in the immediate aftermath of the expulsion of Palestinians and the establishment of Israel, and picks up 25 years later a young woman living in the West Bank who stumbles across this history and becomes obsessed with it.

Shibli does a lot with very few pages. The first section is told from the perspective of the IDF soldier, the language used from his perspective is sparse and provides some stark insight into the language of war used then and (perhaps) now. There's some quite on the nose imagery used with him regarding an insect bite, but it is an effective message that Shibli is using to indicate where perhaps the rot began. The second half has a much more engaging protagonist, and there's a mildly farcical telling to her having to deal with numerous checkpoints and administrative challenges to be able to travel slightly beyond her usual neighbourhood.

Like many people, <I>Minor Detail</i> jumped up my TBR after Shibli's award was rescinded by the Frankfurt Book Fair and I think feels like vital reading after the last month.