The Zafarani Files: An Egyptian Novel

✍ Scribed by Gamal al-Ghitani

• Book ID: 111168181
• Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 407 KB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9781617971495

✦ Synopsis

An unknown observer is watching the residents of a small, closely-knit neighborhood in Cairo's old city, making notes. The college graduate, the street vendors, the political prisoner, the café owner, the taxi driver, the beautiful green-eyed young wife with the troll of a husband all are subjects of surveillance. The watcher's reports flow seamlessly into a narrative about Zafarani Alley, a village tucked into a corner of the city, where intrigue is the main entertainment, and everyone has a secret. Suspicion, superstition, and a wicked humor prevail in this darkly comedic novel. Drawing upon the experience of his own childhood growing up in al-Hussein, where the fictional Zafarani Alley is located, Gamal al-Ghitani has created a world richly populated with characters and situations that possess authenticity behind their veils of satire.