Controversy Surrounding The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones

Update, September 3rd : A new Publisher has been named.  Click here to read about it

There is a controversy bouncing around the internet about the book deal being cancelled for The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones.  I thought I would provide a link to the first chapter that was published on SmartBitchesTrashyBooks.  There is also a great discussion going on there.  You can click here to read the first chapter and you can click here to read the discussion on the website.  The following was a post from Publishers Lunch today about the controversy.  You can read Sherry Jones responses at her website here. 

Random House Group deputy publisher Tom Perry says that the company received “from credible and unrelated sources, cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.” They postponed publication “for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel.” Last month a termination agreement was executed so that agent Natasha Kern could shop the book to other publishers.

The column attributes the beginning of the protests to associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Texas in Austin Denise Spellberg, who says “You can’t play with a sacred history and turn it into soft core pornography.” Spellberg, after reviewing a galley sent for review and endorsement, spoke with someone who runs an e-mail list; that alert was expanded upon by a blogger, which led to someone posting as Ali Hemani iterating a seven-point strategy to make sure “the writer withdraws this book from the stores and apologise [sic] all the muslims across the world.”

After the posting, Spellberg (who publishes with Knopf) alerted editor Jane Garrett to what she viewed as potential danger: “Denise says it is ‘a declaration of war . . . explosive stuff . . . a national security issue.’ Thinks it will be far more controversial than the satanic verses and the Danish cartoons.” Three weeks later Libby McGuire informed the author and agent the book was postponed indefinitely for “fear of a possible terrorist threat from extremist Muslims” and concern for “the safety and security of the Random House building and employees.”
WSJ

Jones tells us that “because of my termination agreement with Random House, I am prohibited from commenting on the circumstances surrounding that termination.” But from her perspective, “Despite Random House’s statement, I’m not aware of any warnings of possible terrorist attack from any other source than Denise Spellberg. I know that Shahed Amanullah’s email had nothing to do with any of this, because I was the one who discovered it, and the resulting discussion, on the Husaini Youths website.

“Although I’ve been aware from the start that my books might offend some people, I’ve never been afraid of physical harm because of them. I wrote these books because I felt called to write them after researching A’isha for my own purposes. My passion for her story trumps the fear factor. I’ve expected controversy, yes, but never terrorism.”

Separately, Jones writes on her blog that “all I did was try to portray A’isha, Muhammad’s child bride (believed by most historians to have married Muhammad at age nine and consummated the marriage at age 11) in the context of her times.”

As to Spellberg’s charge that the novel is “soft porn,” Jones replies: “There are no sex scenes in this book. The novel, whose bibliography includes 29 scholarly and religious books, is a work of serious historic fiction detailing the origins of Islam through the eyes of the Prophet Muhammad’s youngest wife. It’s a book about women’s relationships and experiences at a time in history when a religion was being founded in the midst of conflict.”

Separately, agent Natasha Kern says that she will have news of foreign rights sales for the book to announce shortly.

Random House supplied us with their full statement to the Wall Street Journal, and deputy publisher Tom Perry “underscore[s] that our decision was not based solely on the opinions of Ms. Spellberg.”

The publisher says that after distributing galleys of the book, they received “from credible and unrelated sources, cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.

“We felt an obligation to take these concerns very seriously. We consulted with security experts as well as with scholars of Islam, whom we asked to review the book and offer their assessments of potential reactions.

“We stand firmly by our responsibility to support our authors and the free discussion of ideas, even those that may be construed as offensive by some. However, a publisher must weigh that responsibility against others that it also bears, and in this instance we decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House,
booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel.” As reported, both parties subsequently agreed to terminate the publishing agreement.

The Sunday Salon and a Controversial Book

Good Day Saloner’s!  It looks like rain here in Iowa again, so in other words, perfect reading weather!  I just finished one INTENSE book and am ready to start another.  I guess I’m on a roll with these type of books.  First off I just finished an advanced copy of The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.  I will have my review up this week,   I did like it and I predict it will be a big success.  Next up is a memoir,  House Rules by Rachel Sontag.  I picked this one up in part because of the controversy surrounding it, which I read about on Galley Cat’s website.  Here is an excerpt from that article:

House Rules by Rachel Sontag is about growing up in what she describes as an abusively controlling environment by a domineering father who went so far as to dope his wife up on lithium to keep her from divorcing him and rescuing Sontag and her sister from his tyranny.

And, oh boy, her father lashes out hard. Two reviews posted earlier this week, purportedly from both of Sontag’s parents, describe her in no uncertain terms as a fraud. “What Rachel Sontag does not want you to know are the many events that she refused to share,” this review claims. “They are not pleasant, but they are critical to understanding the duplicity and deceit of an adult with a fabricated childhood.” According to this version of events, Sontag was a willful brat who for some quasi-Oedipal reason was fixated on busting up her parents’ marriage and managed to convince several relatives to buy into her pathology. (Yes, yes, I know that with women it’s supposed to be an “Electra complex,” but the review explicitly states that she wanted to drive away her father to live alone with her mother.) The attacks get extremely personal, even gratuitously mean: “Rachel created conflict whenever she was at home,” the reviewer claiming to be her father writes, “which is why life was so pleasant when she was away.” Ouch.

Amazon.com customers have already started picking sides—and the side they’re picking is usually Rachel’s. “It must be terribly embarrassing to have your daughter write such a beautiful book about such a sad and dysfunctional family situation,” runs a typical response. “Rachel needs to have her feelings and memories acknowledged with love and respect,” says another reader. “I doubt this has ever been done or her book would have had a different ending.

You can go to Amazon and still read her father’s reviews.  Very sad and I think is very telling of her father’s character.  I can’t wait to see what all of you are reading! 

P.S.  I have to brag on some wonderful websites because I have been on a lucky streak this week.  I have won some books for The Friendly Book Nook for participating in their Summer Reading Extrvaganza.  I won another book from Gina at writerinterrupted.com and I won this movie basket from DailyMishMash.com.  I encourage you to visit them, they are always hosting great giveaways!