G. Willow Wilson`s debut novel Alif the Unseen (A&U, 2012) established her as a vital American Muslim literary voice. The Bird King tells the story of Fatima, a concubine in the royal court of Granada, the last emirate of Muslim Spain, and her dearest friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker. Hassan has a secret - he can draw maps of places he`s never seen and bend the shape of reality. When representatives of the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrive to negotiate the sultan`s surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, not realising that she will see Hassan`s gift as sorcery and a threat to Christian Spanish rule.