"A gripping novel by a well-known but under-translated Egyptian author. . . . The novel is translated beautifullyimpeccably." Marilyn Booth, translator of Celestial Bodies, winner of the International Booker Prize
"The novel is at once an absorbing story of village life in Upper Egypt around 1980, and a searing indictment of multiple forms of oppression: women at the hands of their male relatives, the marginalized at the hands of the police, everyone at the hands of the thoroughly corrupt government... A flawless translation." Kay Heikkinen, translator of Granada: The Complete Trilogy
