His translations included works ranging from major American and Chinese novelists[32] to Russian classics: he introduced Alexander Pushkin,[lower-alpha 2] Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky to the Arabic world.[5] He published two collections of short stories, many of them depicting the lives and inner feelings of the lower classes. The first, The Sad Sisters (al-Akhwat al-Hazinat, Cairo 1953), looks at the problems Palestinians encountered in adjusting from traditional, romantically remembered Arab Jaffa to the rising metropolis of Tel Aviv and the strange habits of foreigners, the new Jewish society.[33] The title story (1947) is a narrative of a Palestinian man, sitting down at the base of one of five sycamore trees, the ragged residue of what was once an Arab orchard, and imagining them as five sisters who in mourning clothes recall the rapid changes as the orchard was taken over by the modern urban sprawl. As an autumnal storm sweeps the area, the trees stand firm like 'towering mountains'.[34] The second, The Communist Millionaire (Beirut 1963) consisted of many satirical vignettes of Arab Communists of his acquaintance.[35] His memoirs (Mudhakkirat Najati Sidqi: The memoirs of Najati Sidqi), edited by Hanna Abu Hanna, were published in Beirut in 2001.