The Hostage | 
Another 20th-century classic that's not well known in the West: The hostage by Yemeni author Zayd Muti'Dammaj. It's about a boy kept as a hostage and servant by a family loyal to Yemen's ruler to ensure that the boy's family does not rise up against them. I was grateful for the introduction explaining the political symbolism of the plot and characters. Without it, it would have been a creepy love story between a teenage boy and an older woman.
Dilara Photo of Al-Qahira Castle in Taiz, the town in #Yemen where the author was schooled from Wikipedia (edited) 11mo