Zayni Barakat

From one of Egypt's greatest contemporary writers, a historical novel which "succeeds brilliantly" (Robert Irwin, Times Literary Supplement) “In the course of my long travels I have never seen a city so devastated. After a long time I ventured out into the streets. Death, cold and heavy, hung in the air. Walls have no value here, doors have been eliminated. No one is certain that they will see another day.” This historical novel, first published in Arabic in 1974, is set in early-seventeenth cen