The Last City Left PDF

The Last City Left is my debut novel, a story that is equal parts fantasy epic love letter to Palestinian resilience, and direct extension of my work as an activist standing with the AlShami family, a Palestinian family displaced from Gaza who I have worked with for the last three years.

This book is dedicated to Moemen AlShami who was martyred on 5/16/2025, and its core premise is deeply personal: the story’s protagonist, MoMo, is a barber whose family runs two barber shops in the occupied city of Gauntlet City, a fictional stand-in for Gaza, before the occupying Khaldi forces invade, destroy their businesses and multigenerational home, and hunt for an ancient power that would erase the city’s memory, culture, and right to exist entirely.

Titled for the city that refuses to be erased, the book’s core epigraph says it all: “We’re not fighting to win. We’re fighting to exist.”