Dubai: The UAE might soon have its own J.K. Rowling, as 11- year-old Ghofrane Lahib — believed to be one of the youngest fantasy novelists in the country — plans to enter the market with her book ‘Adrienne and the lord of the mountain’.
You would not expect a sixth grader to write a novel about mythical creatures living in a magical world on the lines of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
Ghofrane’s book is about a girl called Adrienne who runs away from home and starts her adventure in a world full of magical creatures.
“My book talks about a rich girl who fled home after she gets into a fight with her mom and in the background of the story there is a war in her city with a giant. During her adventure she meets a fallen angel whose father is a grim reaper,” Ghofrane said.
Ghofrane’s passion for writing started from the age of eight. She has written a total of five short novels, all about fantasy and if currently working on two books. One of which is a sequel for her book ‘Adrienne and the lord of the mountain’. She is currently looking for a publisher to get her books out to the market.
“Every single one of my books revolves about fantasy. I like writing about fantasy because I can invent my own world and characters then play with them.”
Ghofrane gets her inspiration from other books, movies and pictures. “I like to search on the internet for fantasy pictures. I would stare at them and start making up stories about them.”
Ghofrane said she derived her inspiration for her 104-page book, ‘Adrienne and the lord of the mountain’, from Harry Potter.
She said the book took her one month to complete.
“My dream is to get published here in the UAE. I want to get published because I want to share my stories with the whole world.”
Ghofran’s talent was discovered by her father Mesbah Lahib when she started writing her sister’s university essay’s.
“Her sister wrote an essay and she wrote her essay. Once we compared them we found that hers was better than her older sisters. She is also obsessed with reading books. At times we have to force her to stop reading and go to sleep,” Lahib said.
Her father noticed that her writing is too advanced for a sixth grader in terms of vocabulary and writing style.
A paragraph from her book read: “I woke up at the roar of cannonballs and the shrieks of people getting crushed by toppling trees. I ran towards my bedroom door and tried to open it. It wouldn’t budge.” MOTHER, let, me, OUT!” my bedroom guard, Arundhati, beamed at me from the cat flap. “I’ll inform her Majesty that your Ladyship wills her to be present at your door, your Ladyship.”
Ghofrane hopes to become an author and major in astronomy when she grows up.
