Lebanese Subversive Folktales: Najla Jraissaty's Pearls on a Branch.

The article examines Najla Jraissaty's Pearls on a Branch, a collection of Lebanese oral folktales narrated by women, arguing that these stories function as a feminist art of subversion within patriarchal and sectarian contexts. Topics include female storytelling as a space of empowerment; strategies of transgression such as masquerade, disguise, humor, and trickery; and the socialization of children through tales that challenge norms around marriage, sexuality, motherhood, and women's agency.