In one of the most important novels of his long and illustrious career, Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz tells the story of a delightful Egyptian family, but also reveals a second, hidden, and daring narrative: the spiritual history of mankind. “An ambitious fable that attempts to embrace within it pages not merely the world of the Middle East but that of the world itself”.—The Washington Post Book World.

In one of the most important novels of his long and illustrious career, Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz tells the story of a delightful Egyptian family, but also reveals a second, hidden, and daring narrative: the spiritual history of mankind. “An ambitious fable that attempts to embrace within it pages not merely the world of the Middle East but that of the world itself”.—The Washington Post Book World.

NAGUIB MAHFOUZ was born in 1911 in the crowded Cairo district of Gamaliya. He studied philosophy at Cairo University, then worked in various government ministries until his retirement in 1971. His first three published novels were Khufu's Wisdom (1939), Rhadopis of Nubia (1943), and Thebes at War (1944), all of which are set in ancient Egypt. These political and philosophical critiques disguised as historical romances show the unmistakable signs of a burgeoning literary genius. He went on to write more than 35 other novel-length works, plus hundreds of short stories and numerous cinema plots a