The Broken Wings

The Broken Wings is a short poetic novel written by Khalil Gibran and published in 1912. He wrote it in Arabic.

The novel is set at the beginning of the 20th century in the city of Beirut and introduces us to Selma Karamy, a young woman who is going to marry the nephew of a very prominent clergyman in the community.

The narrator, an eighteen-year-old who is never named, falls in love with her and is loved in return, and after the marriage the two go on meeting in secret. When they are discovered, Selma is shut up in her husband's house and the relationship becomes impossible.

Therefore, it is a tragic love story and highlights the social problems in those years in that area, highlighting the lack of women's rights and religious corruption. The ambition of a bishop who cares more for property than for his God is what cuts the story short, and Selma's own end comes in childbirth.

The book has been widely read outside the Arab world and adapted for the screen and the stage.