The Works
Where to start reading
Suggestions from the family archive for a first reading, depending on what draws you. This is not a ranking of the books.
A way in
Identity, belonging and Cairo
Start with
Galal, born in Cairo’s al-Daher quarter to a Muslim father and a Jewish mother, grows up between two families and two faiths. The first part of the Jews Trilogy.
Then the rest of the trilogy, in order, and Al-Maligi, set in a Cairo alley.
- Days in the Diaspora 2008 · AUC Press
- Menorahs and Minarets 2012 · AUC Press
- Al-Maligi 2014
A way in
Egyptian village life
Start with
Ali recovers his childhood in the house of his grandfather, the omda, in the Giza countryside: the guest hall, the fields and the waterwheel, until 1952.
Then a village told through its closing shops, a granary watchman looking back on his life on his last day at work, and a café at the entrance to a Delta town.
- Shops Closing Their Doors 2022
- Bandari 2024
- Habashi’s Café 2019
A way in
Port Said and the war years
Start with
A young lieutenant arrives in Port Said in August 1968, a city on the front line of the War of Attrition.
Then the story of a Port Said family.
