Born in Nablus in 1941, Sahar Khalifeh is one of the most distinguished Palestinian novelists. She became well known in her hometown at an early age for her strong positions concerning women's liberation. She was married traditionally at an early age, and after 13 years of frustration she decided to end her marriage and dedicate her life to writing. She returned back to college and got her Phd. from the University of Iowa in the US in women's studies and American Literature. She is currently head of the Women and Family Affairs center in Nablus. She has published six novels. The first one "We are no longer your slaves" (1974) caused great commotion because of her defence of women's cause. However, Sahar did not receive literary recognition until her second novel "The Cactus" (1976).

This novel was translated into Hebrew, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, and Malaysian, in addition to the English edition published by Protain 1985. Her other novels have been "The Sun- flower" (1980), "Memoirs of an unrealistic woman" (1986), "Bab es Saha" (1990), and "The Inheritance". In her novels, Sahar Khalifeh expresses her deep belief that a woman's feminist awareness is an integral part of her political awareness. Sheshows us, in her novels, that the struggle of Palestinian women and the difficulties she faces are part of the Palestinian public political struggle for liberation. Her style is very transparent, sensitive, and economic. Even though she writes in classical Arabic, she has an extraordinary ability to use colloquial according to the requirements of the dialogue.

Extracts from her novel "Memoirs of an unrealistic woman"

The more the emptiness increased, the more empty I became. My head turns only inside a needle's hole. The more the days oppressed me the more submissive I became. This submissiveness was characterized by contentment, I became content, asking God for more. The good sides of my husband began to appear to me, and I blamed myself for being so short-sighted. If he brings something new to the house I would thank God that he is not miserly. If he stops staying out late at night for a few nights in a row I could thank God that our life has become settled. If he orders me to do something silly, I would thank God that he now depends on me for every little thing. Days pass by and I am in the best of moods. All his negative habits are erased from my memory and become only a ghost that I knock out with persistence and vigor.

If my husband returns to his old ways I am totally shocked and blame myself for his misbehavior. I tell myself: if you weren't impotent Ya Afaf the house would be full of joy and the children would have brought him closer to you. If , Afaf, you weren't impotent he wouldn't be bored with your boring life. If you weren't ugly he wouldn't want any other woman. In a desperate attempt to fix what life has ruined I start making the house and myself beautiful… The more I move in this direction, the more distant the return to the starting point becomes… The starting point is vague and lost in the mazes of the shaken memory, it has become no more than a distant dream, but a dream and an illusion and nothing more. And when the dream draws me to it I stop myself saying: be realistic, Afaf, be realistic!