Jewel of Medina author Sherry Jones.



Author tour and UK edition of The Jewel of Medina postponed after attack on publisher's home
Visit cancelled:

The UK publication of The Jewel of Medina, the controversial novel about the wife of the prophet Muhammad, has been delayed following a suspected petrol bomb attack on the home of its publisher. The author, Sherry Jones, has also postponed a three-day publicity tour that had been planned for next week.

This reverses the decision the author had taken immediately following the attack. Speaking to guardian.co.uk immediately after the attack on the publisher of Gibson Square, Martin Rynja, Jones declared her travel plans would be unaffected:

"My intention is that if Martin Rynja is courageous enough to proceed with publication, I am certainly courageous enough to come to Britain," she said.

Now it seems that both publication and publicity tour have been delayed. A spokesman for Gibson Square suggested that the author had now decided the best thing to do was to postpone both her visit, which was scheduled for October 16 to 19, and publication of the book, which was due on October 15. "We respect Sherry Jones's decision," the spokesman said. "It is not an easy call for any author, particularly in the case of a debut novel that attracts so much attention from the British media. We appreciate that she will continue to make time available to any interested British groups to dispel misinformation about The Jewel of Medina.

"We hope that they will get in touch with us to receive further information about her hopes for her novel to foster greater understanding of Islam for Western readers. Despite the controversy of the past two weeks, Sherry Jones' intention remains as it was from the start to engage with a current debate in a positive way."

Gibson Square said that Jones's promotion of the book in countries other than Britain remained unaffected by her decision. The Jewel of Medina, which retells the story of Muhammad's relationship with his bride Aisha, is out in Germany and Italy next week, with 10 other countries to follow.

The novel was published this week in the US, to mixed reviews. The LA Times described it as "a second-rate bodice ripper ... readable enough, but it suffers from large swaths of purple prose", while books website Smart Bitches Trashy Books said it "lacked the depth and nuance I expect from historical fiction, particularly historical fiction based on women in religion".

Gibson Square, known for picking up provocative books including Alexander Litvinenko's Blowing up Russia and House of Bush, House of Saud by Craig Unger, said it would fill the gap in its schedule with other forthcoming titles including Malcolm Gluck's The Great Wine Swindle and former BBC war correspondent Alan Pearce's Playing it Safe.

Three men have since been charged with plotting to endanger life and damage property in connection with the attack on Rynja's home and offices in Islington.


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