Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah arrives in the UK after an international storm flared up at the 2026 Adelaide Writers' Week when her invitation to speak was rescinded, authors withdrawing in support and the event being canceled - with Discipline at the centre.

First published in 2025 by University of Queensland Press, it was quickly praised for how Randa Abdel-Fattah handles a subject matter that provokes controversy whenever one tries to discuss it - Palestine, and the life of it's citizens, and their treatment by Israel. By focussing her novel on two people - Hannah, a journalist and Ashraf, an Egyptian Australian academic - Abdel-Fattah manages to give her novel an emotional hook which offsets the diadtic speeches that would otherwise overwhelm the story. I felt most engaged with Hannah and her frustrations with a newspaper industry afraid of offending it's readers, or from publishing certain otherwise unspoken truths.

Discipline is a brave novel - we need not just journalists but storytellers too to focus on this most difficult of subject matters. I have read a number of great ones recently, such as Rachid Benzine's The Man's Who Read Books, and it is a pleasure to read another novel which engages and explores the way in which this international issue impacts life, even outside of it's borders.

I read this novel in one sitting, pulled along by strong prose, memorable characters and look forward to reading more from Abdel-Fattah as a novelist for adults (she has written a number of books for younger readers).

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and Oneworld Publications for the advanced copy of the book.

This book was a rough read. Not in a "wow, it is so badly written!", it is more of the fact that it is a reality. The genocide in Palestine is appalling, grotesque and reeks of colonisation and islamophobia. I remember the very first time when Hamas attacked occupied Palestine (Israel) and someone told me that I should not repost what I cannot verify.

It is tragic and sad—the constant invalidation and negation about what is truly happening in Palestine, a complete erasure of their homeland. As a daughter of immigrants, I could relate to the constant racism that perpetuates in the book systematically without any complains.

Forever and always—from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Thank you for sharing with me your knowledge.

The events surrounding the publication of the book “Discipline” underline the importance and accuracy of its own premise. The book sharply uncovers the hypocrisy and complicity of academia and journalism in Israel’s genocide of Gaza, following a married couple from Palestine living in Australia who navigate their roles in these institutions as their homeland is ethnically cleansed.

For anyone who confronted institutional backlash by speaking out against the genocide, this book will ring true and in my case, brought back up familiar feelings of helplessness, rage, and powerlessness. It’s because of this that I believe the book is a deeply important imprint of this moment in history and deserves to be read for generations to come, as a warning and a reminder. Beyond the importance of this book, it’s also engaging and well written — with characters that come to life on the page and a storyline that doesn’t feel forced.

I highly recommend this book and would recommend pairing it with another recent publication: “Don’t Say Palestine” by Assal Rad.