They lose touch with their origins as they amass and then squander large fortunes, marry prostitutes when they marry at all, and develop rivalries that end in death.See reviews, This powerful account of brutality against women in the Muslim world remains as shocking today as when it was first published, more than a quarter of a century ago. Successive heroes struggle to restore the rights of the people to the trust fund set up by their ancestor Gebelawi, usurped by embezzlers and tyrants. When her lifeless body is discovered at the foot of a cliff, Imhoteps own flesh and blood become the apparent conspirators in her shocking murder. Senior Agent Hamed al-Nasr shows his new partner Agent Onsi the ropes of investigation when they are called to subdue a dangerous, possessed tram car. All are waiting for what the next day might bring. Meanwhile, his former leftist friends are now all either capitalists or Islamists. 2017-2022 Tale Away. When Mahmoud, a disgraced Egyptian officer, is posted to the remote desert town of Siwa, his Irish wife insists on accompanying him, to pursue the secrets of Alexander the Great. Set against trackless deserts and star-filled night skies, the story tells of the young girls relationship with her distant father and a foreign woman who is well-meaning but ultimately motivated by self-interest. When, one day, Abd el-Aziz stands up for himself, he is beaten. For the past three years weve read, I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills. My book for, An essential read for coffee lovers! From Zaita the cripple-maker to Kirsha the caf owner with a taste for young boys and drugs, to Abbas the barber who mistakes greed for love, to Hamida who sells her soul to escape the alley, these characters vividly evoke the sights, sounds and smells of Cairo. Memoirs from the Womens Prisonoffers both firsthand witness to womens resistance to state violence and fascinating insights into the formation of womens community. In a surreal, but familiar, vision of modern day Egypt, a centralised authority known as the Gate has risen to power in the aftermath of the Disgraceful Events, a failed popular uprising. Englishman Howard Carters artistic talent takes him on an expedition attempting to locate Tutankhamens tomb in Egypt. Set in the 5th century AD, Azazeel is the exquisitely crafted tale of a Coptic monks journey from Upper Egypt to Alexandria and then Syria during a time of massive upheaval in the early Church. Filled with the grand clash of armies, staggering defeats, daring escapes, and glorious victories, and written at a time when Egypt was again under the sway of foreign powers,Thebes at Waris a resounding call to remember Egypts long and noble history.Thebes at War, In this startling historical mystery, unique in the authors canon, Agatha Christie investigates a deadly mystery at the heart of a dissonant family in ancient Egypt. Assuring readers that they are about to find out, the narrator takes us on a journey through the insanity of present-day Cairo in and out of minibuses, malls, and crash pads, navigating the citys pinball machine of social life with tolerable efficiency. Cairo, 2011. The plot revolves around the relationship between the two men as they rise to power. With a visit from a court official and a provocative insult, the southern pharaohs long simmering resentment boils over, leading him to commit himself and his heirs to an epic struggle for the throne. Until, that is, she receives a summons from Alexandria that cannot be ignored. The story is retold four times from the perspective of a different resident each time, allowing the reader to understand the intricacies of post-revolutionary Egyptian life.See reviews, The three-part autobiography of one of modern Egypts greatest writers and thinkers. Required fields are marked *. $28.99. Her country taken, she has been brought to the city of Rome in chains, with only her twin brother, Alexander, to remind her of home and all she once had. 
Relying on events from real life, Salah the narrator in the novel tells the story of a group of friends who try a 1/4 gram for the first time during a party on New Years Eve.See reviews, A grim futuristic account of Egyptian society in the year 2023, Utopia takes readers on a chilling journey beyond the gated communities of the North Coast where the wealthy are insulated from the bleakness of life outside the walls. Is Seth planning to leave the worlds most powerful empire to Ramses, and not his corrupt brother, Shaanar? Its a game where the penalty for failure could be his life. But this changes when she is taken under the wing of the Pharaohs aunt, then brought to the Temple of Hathor, where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen.See reviews, In this haunting and controversial English-language debut, Youssef Ziedan confronts issues as vital today as they were one and a half millennia ago. When he returns home five years later, a changed man, their little family begins to fracture and eventually Nadas mother moves back to Paris. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. All manner of flawed and fragile humanity reside in the Yacoubian Building, a once-elegant temple of Art Deco splendor now slowly decaying in the smog and bustle of downtown Cairo: a fading aristocrat and self-proclaimed scientist of women; a sultry, voluptuous siren; a devout young student, feeling the irresistible pull toward fundamentalism; a newspaper editor helplessly in love with a policeman; a corrupt and corpulent politician, twisting the Koran to justify his desires.See reviews, Note: this title is centred around an Egyptian character.A journey through Central Asia and beyond,Moon Over Samarqandis the story of one Egyptians quest for the truth. Shes on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: prepare for a crash landing. When a young man and a girl break out from this bubble of affluence in order to see for themselves the lives of their impoverished fellow Egyptians they are confronted by a world that they had not imagined possible.See reviews, Set in the ancient Upper Egyptian village of Karnak against the backdrop of the British campaigns in Sudan, the Second World War, and the war in Palestine, The Collar and the Bracelet is the stunning saga of the Bishari family a family ripped apart by the violence of history, the dark conduits of human desire, and the rigid social conventions of village life. The following Egyptian titles are some of those that have been translated into English, and appear in the much longer list below. Fiercely independent American Jane Wunderly has made up her mind: she wont be swept off her feet on a trip abroad. Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. As she discovers the various corners of her new home, they conjure up parallel memories from her childhood and her small Bedouin village in the Nile Delta: Emilia who sells used shoes at the flea market smells like Zeinab, the old woman who worked for Hinds grandfather; the reflection of her own body as she dances tango awakens the awkwardness of her relationship to that body across the years; the story of Lilette, the Egyptian bourgeoise who has lost her memory, prompts Hind to safeguard her own.See reviews, Note: this novel is set in the United States, but centres around Egyptian characters.On the eve of Salmas twenty-first birthday, friends and family travel to New York for a celebration reluctantly organised by her grandfather Darwish. She realizes men are not gods as her mother had taught her, that science cannot explain everything, and that she cannot be satisfied by living a life purely of the mind.See reviews, Note: this title is also known as Children of Gebelawi.The history of a Cairo alley through several generations. The novel follows the interactions of the residents of the pension, its Greek mistress Mariana, and her servant, Zohra. Denied permission to dig at the pyramids of Dahshoor, he and Amelia are resigned to excavating mounds of rubble in the middle of nowhere. A second sighting of a sinister stranger from the crime scene, a mysterious scrap of papyrus, and a missing mummy case have all whetted Amelias curiosity. See reviews, The novel is set in Cairo in the late 1930s and deals with the trials and tribulations of a middle class family in the suburbs of Cairo who are struggling to keep out of poverty, after the death of the father, the sole breadwinner. Citizens are required to obtain permission from the Gate in order to take care of even the most basic of their daily affairs, yet the Gate never opens, and the queue in front of it grows longer.See reviews, Meet Egypts top TV preacher Hatem el-Shenawi: a national celebrity revered by housewives and politicians alike for delivering Islam to the masses. Selenes legendary parents are gone. As World War IIspeeds closer to Cairo, a shocking accident gives these young lovers a second chance but with this chance comes terrible danger. The Other Place portrays the shallowness of the petrodollar culture and the price one pays for quick money. In this sprawling political thriller, Ahmed is forced to confront ruthless players. Ideal for listening while gazing out the window. The girls deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. Generation after generation, however, Ashurs descendants grow further from his legendary example. The monk, Hypa, embarks on a journey both physical and spiritual, encountering, the devil, Azazeel, and the hardship of severe temptation. But when he is entrusted with a secret that threatens to wreak havoc across the country, he is drawn into a web of political intrigue at the very heart of government. Her encounters with the other students as well as the male and female corpses in the autopsy room intensify her dissatisfaction with and her search for identity. And the manipulative Nofret has already set about a plan to usurp her rivals rightful legacies. But when the Emersons start digging for answers in an ancient tomb, events take a darker and deadlier turn and there may be no surviving the very modern terrors their efforts reveal.See reviews, The 1895-96 season promises to be an exceptional one for Amelia Peabody, her dashing Egyptologist husband, Radcliffe Emerson, and their precocious (some might say rambunctious) eight-year-old son, Ramses. Darley is the primary observer of the events, which include events in the lives of those he loves, and those he knows. To be together, they must flee their city, Vigdis renouncing a life of privilege and comfort. See reviews, Note: this title is centred around an Egyptian character. Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh. Enamored by the foreign customs of the Europeans, she finds herself on a dangerous path, one that may ostracise her from her family and culture.See reviews. One studies how the nouveaux riches of the Open Door Policy make their money, while others try their own hand at swindle. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. Art historian, Yasmine, is restoring an unsigned portrait of a strikingly beautiful girl from the Napoleonic Era, when she discovers that the artist has embedded a lock of hair into the painting, something highly unusual. He dreams of a grand, sunlit mausoleum on the banks of the Nile. Thus begins a love affair that makes them the envy of Egyptian society. Even Ivy Tunstells acting troupes latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a dampener on Alexias enjoyment of her new London lifestyle. Imperium is the first of a trilogy of novels about the struggle for power in ancient Rome. She goes on explore the causes of the situation through a discussion of the historical role of Arab women in religion and literature. 
Her rebellious spirit seeks to free itself from the stifling social codes that dictate a young womans life, just as Egypt struggles to shake off the yoke of imperialist rule.See reviews, Set amidst the turbulence of 1950s Cairo,Beer in the Snooker Club is the story of Ram Bey, an over-educated, under-ambitious young Egyptian struggling to find out where he fits in. Meanwhile, at the close of the French Campaign in Egypt, sixteen-year-old Zeinab, the daughter of a prominent sheikh, is drawn into French high society when Napoleon himself requests her presence. While the ravishing courtesan Rhadopis is bathing, a falcon lifts one of her golden sandals and drops it into the lap of the Pharaoh Merenra II. Current price is Like @SouthHuntingtonLibrary on Facebook. Episodic in form, it deals with a family Zaghloul the layabout father, Sakeena the long-suffering wife, and two young boys. 
Told in Cleopatras own voice, this is a mesmerising tale of ambition, passion, and betrayal, which begins when the twenty-year-old queen seeks out the most powerful man in the world, Julius Caesar, and does not end until, having survived the assassination of Caesar and the defeat of the second man she loves, Marc Antony, she plots her own death rather than be paraded in triumph through the streets of Rome.See reviews. 
Director of Health and Education in Cairo, she was summarily dismissed from her post in 1972 for her political writing and activities. Egypt is at a critical point in its modern history, struggling to throw off the yoke of the seventy-year British occupation and its corrupt royalist allies. My posts sometimes include Amazon affiliate links, but only when links are available for books I truly want to write about. The novels of the Cairo Trilogy trace three generations of the family of tyrannical patriarch al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, who rules his household with a strict hand while living a secret life of self-indulgence. But blinded by their love and the extravagant attentions they lavish on each other, they ignore the growing resentment of the world around them in this extraordinary tale of star-crossed love.See reviews, Known and loved throughout Egypt as a work that celebrates the national character, Naguib MahfouzsThebes at Wartells of a high point in Egyptian history ancient Egypts defeat of Asiatic foreigners who had dominated northern Egypt for two hundred years. The men and women of the city struggle to find lovers worthy of their love and causes worthy of their sacrifice in a country that no longer deserves their loyalty. More than forty years later, Hussein published A Passage to France (1973), carrying the story on to his final attainment of a doctorate at the Sorbonne, a saga of perseverance in the face of daunting odds.See reviews, The Egypt of the Mamluk dynasty witnessed a period of artistic ostentation and social and political upheaval, at the heart of which lay the unsolved question of the rulers legitimacy. She is five years old when her French mother takes her to visit her Egyptian father, a political activist with a passing resemblance to President Nasser, in prison. But in the face of the inexorable attraction between Djedefra and Princess Meresankh, Khufus beautiful daughter, Khufu must consider not only his personal ambition and the opposing decree of the heavens, but also how the wisdom he prides himself on as a ruler will guide him in determining the fate of his daughters heart.See reviews, Naguib Mahfouz mines the riches of his homelands ancient past inRhadopis of Nubia,an unforgettable love story set against the high politics of Egypts Sixth Dynasty. The country torn apart, and enemies everywhere, Mark and Serenas love is tested to the limit. A novel that reimagines the beginnings of Cleopatra's epic saga follows her younger sister, Arsinoe, as she escapes the palace after her half-sister Berenice seizes the throne while their father, Ptolemy, marches on the city of Alexandria with a Roman army. As he returns home for the first time since the Israeli occupation, Barghouti crosses a wooden bridge over the Jordan River into Ramallah and is unable to recognise the city of his youth. But his story is not told in isolation: through his experiences and memories Yasser Abdellatif also unfolds the experiences of his Nubian family through the epochal changes the country underwent in the twentieth-century.See reviews, This controversial bestselling novel in the Arab world reveals the political corruption, sexual repression, religious extremism, and modern hopes of Egypt today. In 1901, Anna Winterbourne, recently widowed, leaves England for Egypt, an outpost of the Empire roiling with nationalist sentiment. Naguib Mahfouz is one of the most widely-read Egyptian authors in this list of books set in Egypt, and is considered one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature. What is your favourite book set in Egypt? To realize his pharaonic folly, the retired captain kindles an unlikely romance between Hazem, a feckless architect longing for immortality, and Asma, an impoverished single mother who strives for a better life for her children. A contemporary Egyptian romance of rare grace and wit, played out by characters trapped in their attitudes toward class and gender.See reviews, Its the dawn of the twentieth century, and Britains glittering Empire extends far and wide, full of the dangerously seductive promise of untapped riches. His rebellious children struggle to move beyond his domination as they test the loosening reins of societal and parental control. From then on, he begins his descent into the underworld. She has led a good life. Justine, Balthazar and Mountolive use varied viewpoints to relate a series of events in Alexandria before World War II. There began a seven-month nightmare as he was swept up, along with fifty other men, in the infamous Queen Boat affair that targeted Egypts gay community. 
There, Alku, the lifelong Nubian retainer of Egypts corrupt and dissolute king, lords it over the staff, a squabbling but tight-knit group, who live in perpetual fear, as they are thrashed for their mistakes, their wages dependent on Alkus whims. 
Mustafa, a former student radical who never believed in the slogans, sets out to tell their story, but he has to rely on the help of his American girlfriend, Marcia, who he is not sure he can trust. 
Here, a woman who grows up among the Egyptian elite, marries a Westernised husband, and, while pursuing graduate study, becomes embroiled in a love affair with an uncouth Englishman.See reviews, Historical fiction meets mythology as ancient Egypt comes alive in this monumental epic. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. $20.99, Original price is 
Or some classics that havent been translated as yet? Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a girl who had everything until she lost her life. With one of the longest histories of any country, Ancient Egypt saw some of the earliest developments in writing. The will funds continued excavation. In an alternate Cairo infused with the otherworldly, the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities investigate disturbances between the mortal and the (possibly) divine. The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. What starts off as an odd suicide case for Special Investigator Fatma el-Shaarawi leads her through the citys underbelly as she encounters rampaging ghouls, saucy assassins, clockwork angels, and plot that could unravel time itself.See reviews, Note: this title travels many places, with part of it set in Egypt.The Middle Ages have just begun when Vigdis Adelas, a young woman from a prosperous French family, falls in love with David Todros, a student at the citys yeshiva, and the son of a rabbi. In my ideal world, Id read a different, This year marks the third year of our World Reading Challenge; where we read one book per week,, I spent last year reading my way around the world, tackling my first world reading challenge and traveling, I spent a few years living in Japan where I spent my weekends traversing the country by bullet, This gorgeous series of Penguin Clothbound Classics has long been one of my favorite book collections. And the foreigners can always leave.See reviews, Note: this novel is set in Chicago, but centres around Egyptian characters.Egyptian and American lives collide on a college campus in post-9/11 Chicago, and crises of identity abound in this extraordinary novel from Alaa al Aswany. In 1981 she was imprisoned by Anwar Sadat for alleged crimes against the State and was not released until after his assassination. More than a decade later, the familys seemingly stable life is suddenly upended when a devastating turn of events leaves Hosaam and Natalie dead and turns the Al-Menshawys into outcasts in their own town.See reviews, Egypt, 1912. Among the ashes of the city love may grow, but at a time of national struggle what place do personal feelings have beside the greater love for a shackled homeland?See reviews, Rebelling against the constraints of family and society, a young Egyptian woman decides to study medicine, becoming the only woman in a class of men. At a deeper level, the book is an allegory whose heroes relive the lives of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Moses, Jesus and Muhammed. This is a tense thriller that exposes contemporary Egypt and Cairos seedy nightlife.See reviews, Nada is no stranger to protest. Her charisma is matched only by her husbands perceived generosity: Amunhotep showers his subjects with lofty promises. Believing that the German forces will never bomb such a famously religious part of the city, they seek safety among the crowded alleyways, busy cafes, and ancient mosques of the Khan, adjacent to the area where Mahfouz himself spent much of his young life. 
The first volume of Mary Renaults Alexander the Great trilogy, Fire from Heaven chronicles the formative years of his life. Married at a tender age to the remote Spartan king Menelaus, the beautiful Helen bears him a daughter and anticipates a passionless marriage in spite of her divine origins before falling in love with the Trojan prince Paris, with whom she flees to Troy, with devastating consequences.
Relying on events from real life, Salah the narrator in the novel tells the story of a group of friends who try a 1/4 gram for the first time during a party on New Years Eve.See reviews, A grim futuristic account of Egyptian society in the year 2023, Utopia takes readers on a chilling journey beyond the gated communities of the North Coast where the wealthy are insulated from the bleakness of life outside the walls. Is Seth planning to leave the worlds most powerful empire to Ramses, and not his corrupt brother, Shaanar? Its a game where the penalty for failure could be his life. But this changes when she is taken under the wing of the Pharaohs aunt, then brought to the Temple of Hathor, where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen.See reviews, In this haunting and controversial English-language debut, Youssef Ziedan confronts issues as vital today as they were one and a half millennia ago. When he returns home five years later, a changed man, their little family begins to fracture and eventually Nadas mother moves back to Paris. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. All manner of flawed and fragile humanity reside in the Yacoubian Building, a once-elegant temple of Art Deco splendor now slowly decaying in the smog and bustle of downtown Cairo: a fading aristocrat and self-proclaimed scientist of women; a sultry, voluptuous siren; a devout young student, feeling the irresistible pull toward fundamentalism; a newspaper editor helplessly in love with a policeman; a corrupt and corpulent politician, twisting the Koran to justify his desires.See reviews, Note: this title is centred around an Egyptian character.A journey through Central Asia and beyond,Moon Over Samarqandis the story of one Egyptians quest for the truth. Shes on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: prepare for a crash landing. When a young man and a girl break out from this bubble of affluence in order to see for themselves the lives of their impoverished fellow Egyptians they are confronted by a world that they had not imagined possible.See reviews, Set in the ancient Upper Egyptian village of Karnak against the backdrop of the British campaigns in Sudan, the Second World War, and the war in Palestine, The Collar and the Bracelet is the stunning saga of the Bishari family a family ripped apart by the violence of history, the dark conduits of human desire, and the rigid social conventions of village life. The following Egyptian titles are some of those that have been translated into English, and appear in the much longer list below. Fiercely independent American Jane Wunderly has made up her mind: she wont be swept off her feet on a trip abroad. Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. As she discovers the various corners of her new home, they conjure up parallel memories from her childhood and her small Bedouin village in the Nile Delta: Emilia who sells used shoes at the flea market smells like Zeinab, the old woman who worked for Hinds grandfather; the reflection of her own body as she dances tango awakens the awkwardness of her relationship to that body across the years; the story of Lilette, the Egyptian bourgeoise who has lost her memory, prompts Hind to safeguard her own.See reviews, Note: this novel is set in the United States, but centres around Egyptian characters.On the eve of Salmas twenty-first birthday, friends and family travel to New York for a celebration reluctantly organised by her grandfather Darwish. She realizes men are not gods as her mother had taught her, that science cannot explain everything, and that she cannot be satisfied by living a life purely of the mind.See reviews, Note: this title is also known as Children of Gebelawi.The history of a Cairo alley through several generations. The novel follows the interactions of the residents of the pension, its Greek mistress Mariana, and her servant, Zohra. Denied permission to dig at the pyramids of Dahshoor, he and Amelia are resigned to excavating mounds of rubble in the middle of nowhere. A second sighting of a sinister stranger from the crime scene, a mysterious scrap of papyrus, and a missing mummy case have all whetted Amelias curiosity. See reviews, The novel is set in Cairo in the late 1930s and deals with the trials and tribulations of a middle class family in the suburbs of Cairo who are struggling to keep out of poverty, after the death of the father, the sole breadwinner. Citizens are required to obtain permission from the Gate in order to take care of even the most basic of their daily affairs, yet the Gate never opens, and the queue in front of it grows longer.See reviews, Meet Egypts top TV preacher Hatem el-Shenawi: a national celebrity revered by housewives and politicians alike for delivering Islam to the masses. Selenes legendary parents are gone. As World War IIspeeds closer to Cairo, a shocking accident gives these young lovers a second chance but with this chance comes terrible danger. The Other Place portrays the shallowness of the petrodollar culture and the price one pays for quick money. In this sprawling political thriller, Ahmed is forced to confront ruthless players. Ideal for listening while gazing out the window. The girls deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. Generation after generation, however, Ashurs descendants grow further from his legendary example. The monk, Hypa, embarks on a journey both physical and spiritual, encountering, the devil, Azazeel, and the hardship of severe temptation. But when he is entrusted with a secret that threatens to wreak havoc across the country, he is drawn into a web of political intrigue at the very heart of government. Her encounters with the other students as well as the male and female corpses in the autopsy room intensify her dissatisfaction with and her search for identity. And the manipulative Nofret has already set about a plan to usurp her rivals rightful legacies. But when the Emersons start digging for answers in an ancient tomb, events take a darker and deadlier turn and there may be no surviving the very modern terrors their efforts reveal.See reviews, The 1895-96 season promises to be an exceptional one for Amelia Peabody, her dashing Egyptologist husband, Radcliffe Emerson, and their precocious (some might say rambunctious) eight-year-old son, Ramses. Darley is the primary observer of the events, which include events in the lives of those he loves, and those he knows. To be together, they must flee their city, Vigdis renouncing a life of privilege and comfort. See reviews, Note: this title is centred around an Egyptian character. Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh. Enamored by the foreign customs of the Europeans, she finds herself on a dangerous path, one that may ostracise her from her family and culture.See reviews. One studies how the nouveaux riches of the Open Door Policy make their money, while others try their own hand at swindle. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. Art historian, Yasmine, is restoring an unsigned portrait of a strikingly beautiful girl from the Napoleonic Era, when she discovers that the artist has embedded a lock of hair into the painting, something highly unusual. He dreams of a grand, sunlit mausoleum on the banks of the Nile. Thus begins a love affair that makes them the envy of Egyptian society. Even Ivy Tunstells acting troupes latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a dampener on Alexias enjoyment of her new London lifestyle. Imperium is the first of a trilogy of novels about the struggle for power in ancient Rome. She goes on explore the causes of the situation through a discussion of the historical role of Arab women in religion and literature. Her rebellious spirit seeks to free itself from the stifling social codes that dictate a young womans life, just as Egypt struggles to shake off the yoke of imperialist rule.See reviews, Set amidst the turbulence of 1950s Cairo,Beer in the Snooker Club is the story of Ram Bey, an over-educated, under-ambitious young Egyptian struggling to find out where he fits in. Meanwhile, at the close of the French Campaign in Egypt, sixteen-year-old Zeinab, the daughter of a prominent sheikh, is drawn into French high society when Napoleon himself requests her presence. While the ravishing courtesan Rhadopis is bathing, a falcon lifts one of her golden sandals and drops it into the lap of the Pharaoh Merenra II. Current price is Like @SouthHuntingtonLibrary on Facebook. Episodic in form, it deals with a family Zaghloul the layabout father, Sakeena the long-suffering wife, and two young boys. Told in Cleopatras own voice, this is a mesmerising tale of ambition, passion, and betrayal, which begins when the twenty-year-old queen seeks out the most powerful man in the world, Julius Caesar, and does not end until, having survived the assassination of Caesar and the defeat of the second man she loves, Marc Antony, she plots her own death rather than be paraded in triumph through the streets of Rome.See reviews. Director of Health and Education in Cairo, she was summarily dismissed from her post in 1972 for her political writing and activities. Egypt is at a critical point in its modern history, struggling to throw off the yoke of the seventy-year British occupation and its corrupt royalist allies. My posts sometimes include Amazon affiliate links, but only when links are available for books I truly want to write about. The novels of the Cairo Trilogy trace three generations of the family of tyrannical patriarch al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, who rules his household with a strict hand while living a secret life of self-indulgence. But blinded by their love and the extravagant attentions they lavish on each other, they ignore the growing resentment of the world around them in this extraordinary tale of star-crossed love.See reviews, Known and loved throughout Egypt as a work that celebrates the national character, Naguib MahfouzsThebes at Wartells of a high point in Egyptian history ancient Egypts defeat of Asiatic foreigners who had dominated northern Egypt for two hundred years. The men and women of the city struggle to find lovers worthy of their love and causes worthy of their sacrifice in a country that no longer deserves their loyalty. More than forty years later, Hussein published A Passage to France (1973), carrying the story on to his final attainment of a doctorate at the Sorbonne, a saga of perseverance in the face of daunting odds.See reviews, The Egypt of the Mamluk dynasty witnessed a period of artistic ostentation and social and political upheaval, at the heart of which lay the unsolved question of the rulers legitimacy. She is five years old when her French mother takes her to visit her Egyptian father, a political activist with a passing resemblance to President Nasser, in prison. But in the face of the inexorable attraction between Djedefra and Princess Meresankh, Khufus beautiful daughter, Khufu must consider not only his personal ambition and the opposing decree of the heavens, but also how the wisdom he prides himself on as a ruler will guide him in determining the fate of his daughters heart.See reviews, Naguib Mahfouz mines the riches of his homelands ancient past inRhadopis of Nubia,an unforgettable love story set against the high politics of Egypts Sixth Dynasty. The country torn apart, and enemies everywhere, Mark and Serenas love is tested to the limit. A novel that reimagines the beginnings of Cleopatra's epic saga follows her younger sister, Arsinoe, as she escapes the palace after her half-sister Berenice seizes the throne while their father, Ptolemy, marches on the city of Alexandria with a Roman army. As he returns home for the first time since the Israeli occupation, Barghouti crosses a wooden bridge over the Jordan River into Ramallah and is unable to recognise the city of his youth. But his story is not told in isolation: through his experiences and memories Yasser Abdellatif also unfolds the experiences of his Nubian family through the epochal changes the country underwent in the twentieth-century.See reviews, This controversial bestselling novel in the Arab world reveals the political corruption, sexual repression, religious extremism, and modern hopes of Egypt today. In 1901, Anna Winterbourne, recently widowed, leaves England for Egypt, an outpost of the Empire roiling with nationalist sentiment. Naguib Mahfouz is one of the most widely-read Egyptian authors in this list of books set in Egypt, and is considered one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature. What is your favourite book set in Egypt? To realize his pharaonic folly, the retired captain kindles an unlikely romance between Hazem, a feckless architect longing for immortality, and Asma, an impoverished single mother who strives for a better life for her children. A contemporary Egyptian romance of rare grace and wit, played out by characters trapped in their attitudes toward class and gender.See reviews, Its the dawn of the twentieth century, and Britains glittering Empire extends far and wide, full of the dangerously seductive promise of untapped riches. His rebellious children struggle to move beyond his domination as they test the loosening reins of societal and parental control. From then on, he begins his descent into the underworld. She has led a good life. Justine, Balthazar and Mountolive use varied viewpoints to relate a series of events in Alexandria before World War II. There began a seven-month nightmare as he was swept up, along with fifty other men, in the infamous Queen Boat affair that targeted Egypts gay community. There, Alku, the lifelong Nubian retainer of Egypts corrupt and dissolute king, lords it over the staff, a squabbling but tight-knit group, who live in perpetual fear, as they are thrashed for their mistakes, their wages dependent on Alkus whims. Here, a woman who grows up among the Egyptian elite, marries a Westernised husband, and, while pursuing graduate study, becomes embroiled in a love affair with an uncouth Englishman.See reviews, Historical fiction meets mythology as ancient Egypt comes alive in this monumental epic. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. $20.99, Original price is Or some classics that havent been translated as yet? Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a girl who had everything until she lost her life. With one of the longest histories of any country, Ancient Egypt saw some of the earliest developments in writing. The will funds continued excavation. In an alternate Cairo infused with the otherworldly, the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities investigate disturbances between the mortal and the (possibly) divine. The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. What starts off as an odd suicide case for Special Investigator Fatma el-Shaarawi leads her through the citys underbelly as she encounters rampaging ghouls, saucy assassins, clockwork angels, and plot that could unravel time itself.See reviews, Note: this title travels many places, with part of it set in Egypt.The Middle Ages have just begun when Vigdis Adelas, a young woman from a prosperous French family, falls in love with David Todros, a student at the citys yeshiva, and the son of a rabbi. In my ideal world, Id read a different, This year marks the third year of our World Reading Challenge; where we read one book per week,, I spent last year reading my way around the world, tackling my first world reading challenge and traveling, I spent a few years living in Japan where I spent my weekends traversing the country by bullet, This gorgeous series of Penguin Clothbound Classics has long been one of my favorite book collections. And the foreigners can always leave.See reviews, Note: this novel is set in Chicago, but centres around Egyptian characters.Egyptian and American lives collide on a college campus in post-9/11 Chicago, and crises of identity abound in this extraordinary novel from Alaa al Aswany. In 1981 she was imprisoned by Anwar Sadat for alleged crimes against the State and was not released until after his assassination. More than a decade later, the familys seemingly stable life is suddenly upended when a devastating turn of events leaves Hosaam and Natalie dead and turns the Al-Menshawys into outcasts in their own town.See reviews, Egypt, 1912. Among the ashes of the city love may grow, but at a time of national struggle what place do personal feelings have beside the greater love for a shackled homeland?See reviews, Rebelling against the constraints of family and society, a young Egyptian woman decides to study medicine, becoming the only woman in a class of men. At a deeper level, the book is an allegory whose heroes relive the lives of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Moses, Jesus and Muhammed. This is a tense thriller that exposes contemporary Egypt and Cairos seedy nightlife.See reviews, Nada is no stranger to protest. Her charisma is matched only by her husbands perceived generosity: Amunhotep showers his subjects with lofty promises. Believing that the German forces will never bomb such a famously religious part of the city, they seek safety among the crowded alleyways, busy cafes, and ancient mosques of the Khan, adjacent to the area where Mahfouz himself spent much of his young life. The first volume of Mary Renaults Alexander the Great trilogy, Fire from Heaven chronicles the formative years of his life. Married at a tender age to the remote Spartan king Menelaus, the beautiful Helen bears him a daughter and anticipates a passionless marriage in spite of her divine origins before falling in love with the Trojan prince Paris, with whom she flees to Troy, with devastating consequences.