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No One Knows Their Blood Type
No One Knows Their Blood Type is a novel of identity, belonging, and conflicting truths—of stories, secrets, songs, rumors, and lies. On the day that her father dies, Jumana makes a discovery about her blood type. Hers could not have been inherited from her father—the father she sometimes longed for, but always despised. This extraordinary novel of Palestine centers its narrative not on the battlefield of history, but on how women live every day and the colonial context of their embodied lives. With humor and exhilarating inventiveness, it asks: why aren’t questions of love, friendship, parenthood, and desire at the core of our conversations about liberty and freedom? How would this transform our ideas of resistance?
150 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2024
3 people are currently reading
335 people want to read
About the author
Maya Abu Al-Hayyat
8 books14 followersMaya Abu Al-Hayyat is a Beirut-born, Palestinian novelist and poet living in Jerusalem.
Abu Al-Hayyat is the author of four collections of poems, including You Can Be the Last Leaf (Milkweed, 2022), translated by Fady Joudah; four novels, including the latest, No One Knows His Blood Type (Dar Al-Adab, 2013); and numerous children’s stories, including The Blue Pool of Questions (Penny Candy Books, LLC, 2017). Her work has appeared in A Bird Is Not a Stone: An Anthology of Contemporary Palestinian Poetry (Freight Books, 2014). She is also the editor of The Book of Ramallah: A City in Short Fiction (Comma Press, 2021).
Abu Al-Hayyat is the director of Palestine Writing Workshop, an institution that seeks to encourage reading in Palestinian communities through creative writing projects and storytelling with children and teachers.
Abu Al-Hayyat is the author of four collections of poems, including You Can Be the Last Leaf (Milkweed, 2022), translated by Fady Joudah; four novels, including the latest, No One Knows His Blood Type (Dar Al-Adab, 2013); and numerous children’s stories, including The Blue Pool of Questions (Penny Candy Books, LLC, 2017). Her work has appeared in A Bird Is Not a Stone: An Anthology of Contemporary Palestinian Poetry (Freight Books, 2014). She is also the editor of The Book of Ramallah: A City in Short Fiction (Comma Press, 2021).
Abu Al-Hayyat is the director of Palestine Writing Workshop, an institution that seeks to encourage reading in Palestinian communities through creative writing projects and storytelling with children and teachers.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 6, 2025
A feminist perspective on the brutal aftermath of war, exile & refugee status on the female body & psyche.
“Why aren't questions about motherhood and fatherhood, sisterhood and kinship, love and friendship at the core of conversations about liberty and freedom? If they were, how would that change our notion of emancipation...” - from the translator’s afterword.
♀ ♾️
“Why aren't questions about motherhood and fatherhood, sisterhood and kinship, love and friendship at the core of conversations about liberty and freedom? If they were, how would that change our notion of emancipation...” - from the translator’s afterword.
♀ ♾️
December 21, 2024
No One Knows Their Blood Type es una obra ingeniosa y cautivante, que te sumerge en el ser-palestino, un viaje guiado por la imaginación de la autora que no dudará en llevarte a los elementos más íntimos de la vivencia familiar palestina.
Con una visión histórica, se desarrollará entre varias, en una época donde los conflictos bélicos entre Palestina, Líbano, Jordania e israel afectarán el desarrollo de los personajes. Como nota curiosa, el tipo de narración omnisciente y el intercalado de capítulos donde predomina el punto de vista de diversos personajes, me recordó mucho al estilo usado por George RR Martin en su obra de Canción de Hielo y Fuego, teniendo un punto culmen que me llevó a sentir lo mismo como cuando Arya se acerca al lugar donde se desarrolla la Boda Roja.
Con una visión histórica, se desarrollará entre varias, en una época donde los conflictos bélicos entre Palestina, Líbano, Jordania e israel afectarán el desarrollo de los personajes. Como nota curiosa, el tipo de narración omnisciente y el intercalado de capítulos donde predomina el punto de vista de diversos personajes, me recordó mucho al estilo usado por George RR Martin en su obra de Canción de Hielo y Fuego, teniendo un punto culmen que me llevó a sentir lo mismo como cuando Arya se acerca al lugar donde se desarrolla la Boda Roja.
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October 30, 2025really liked the fragmented storytelling and switched perspectives. she does a great job of conveying unique personalities for each character through the narration in different sections of the novel and never oversimplifies characters to their best/worst traits.
December 26, 2024
Moving, heart-wrenching and sobering, a must read book for anyone interested in reading about Palestine.
August 17, 2025
3.5 to 4 stars
This novel explores the impact of conflict, exile, and colonization on Palestinian girls and women—and the the men in their lives. Central to the story are two sisters, their parents and extended families,tracing their lives over a period from 1979 to 2012. It begins in Beirut, moves to Amman, Jordan, then Tunisia, and finally Palestine. Major political events occur during this time, but they rarely take centre stage in the accounts various characters give. The focus is on their relationships as the circumstances of their times impose demands and restrictions on their lives. The fragmented accounts that make up this narrative do not inspire an immediate empathy with any one character, while the generally spare nature of this novel ask the reader to piece together a larger picture of the dynamics that impact the Palestinian people in Palestine and in the wider diaspora. As such, it is a novel to linger with and think about.
A longer review to come.
This novel explores the impact of conflict, exile, and colonization on Palestinian girls and women—and the the men in their lives. Central to the story are two sisters, their parents and extended families,tracing their lives over a period from 1979 to 2012. It begins in Beirut, moves to Amman, Jordan, then Tunisia, and finally Palestine. Major political events occur during this time, but they rarely take centre stage in the accounts various characters give. The focus is on their relationships as the circumstances of their times impose demands and restrictions on their lives. The fragmented accounts that make up this narrative do not inspire an immediate empathy with any one character, while the generally spare nature of this novel ask the reader to piece together a larger picture of the dynamics that impact the Palestinian people in Palestine and in the wider diaspora. As such, it is a novel to linger with and think about.
A longer review to come.
January 6, 2026
This little novel was so brief but so impactful! What would revolution look like if we centered motherhood, children, and family in our efforts to decolonize and rebuild? These entities suffer endlessly in transitional stages. We can support a revolution with undying loyalty while still negotiating a way around its flaws. Maya Abu Al Hayyat is so witty and so straightforward. She comments on the political by exploring the personal- identities that can get lost among violence and instability within a nation. The translator did a great job and his note of reflection at the end of the novel was a valuable addition.
October 27, 2025
Tough to read but wowee! Parenthood!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews