num_pages: 286
description: Never has Nobel Prize-winner Naguib Mahfouz's talent for rich and luxurious storytelling been more evident than in Midaq Alley, which centers around the residents of one of the hustling, teeming back alleys of Cairo. From Zaita the cripple-maker to Kirsha the café 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. Long after one finishes reading, the smell of fresh bread lingers, as does the image of the men gathering at the café for their nightly ritual. The universality and timelessness of this book cannot be denied.
language: English
title: Midaq Alley
titlecomplete: Midaq Alley
characters: Radwan Hussainy, Hussain Kersha, Sheikh Darwish, Saniya Afify, Kamil, Abbas al-Helwu, Mrs. Kersha, Hamida, Dr. Booshy, Salim Alwan, Kersha, Umm Hamida, Zaita
genres: 20th Century, Historical Fiction, Nobel Prize, Africa, Novels, School, Literature, Egypt, Classics, Fiction
ratings_count: 11595
places: Cairo, Egypt
publisher: Anchor Books