Historical fiction books from Egypt
Recommended historical fiction books (14)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you are into historical fiction here are some historical fiction books from Egypt for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge.
1.
Description:
Akhenatón, el Faraón monoteísta, hereje y poeta. La investigación de un estudiante.
Una novela con un sabor diferente, en la que Mahfouz nos traslada de nuevo al Egipto faraónico, que destacó en utilizar para presentar sus ideas. La idea de leer un evento desde más de una perspectiva... los motivos ocultos de cada uno de ellos se revelan a pesar del intento de cada uno de ocultar sus motivos detrás de máscaras de sabiduría. El método de Mahfouz al escribir la novela en un nuevo estilo, y no simplemente una narraci&o... continue
2.
Description:
In this haunting and controversial novel, Youssef Ziedan confronts issues as vital today as they were nearly two millennia ago. Set in the 5th century AD, Azazeel is the exquisitely crafted tale of a Coptic monk's journey from Upper Egypt to Alexandria and then Syria during a time of massive upheaval in the early Church. Winner of the Arab Booker Prize, Azazeel highlights how the history of our civilization has been warped by greed and avarice since its very beginnings and how one man's beliefs are challenged not only by the malice of the devil, but by the corruption with the early Church. In ... continue
3.
Daughters of the Nile by Zahra Barri EN
Description:
History's repetitions signal the rekindling of revolutionary spirit. Paris, 1940. The course of Fatiha Bin-Khalid's life is changed forever when she befriends the Muslim feminist Doria Shafik. But after returning to Egypt and dedicating years to the fight for women's rights, she struggles to reconcile her political ideals with the realities of motherhood. Cairo, 1966. After being publicly shamed when her relationship with a bisexual boyfriend is revealed, Fatiha's daughter is faced with an impossible decision. Should Yasminah accept a life she didn't choose, or will she leave her home and coun... continue
4.
Granada : A Novel by Radwa Ashour EN
Description:
Radwa Ashour skillfully weaves a history of Granadan rule and an Arabic world into a novel that evokes cultural loss and the disappearance of a vanquished population. The novel follows the family of Abu Jaafar the bookbinder—his wife, widowed daughter-in-law, her two children, and his two apprentices—as they witness Christopher Columbus and his entourage in a triumphant parade featuring exotic plants, animals, human captives from the New World. Embedded in the narrative is the preparation for the marriage of Saad, one of the apprentices, and Saleema, Abu Jaafar's granddaughter—which is elegant... continue
5.
La Maldición de Ra : Keops y la gran pirámide by Naguib Mahfuz ES
Description:
Mientras Keops emprende la construccion de la gran piramide, su corte se enfrenta a un grave problema que el faraon intentara resolver mediante el asesinato de un bebe. Con su habitual capacidad para sumergir al lector en el ambiente de epocas pasadas, Mahfuz recrea en esta ocasion la vida en la corte durante la IV dinastia, una de las epocas mas apasionantes del Egipto de los faraones.
6.
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz EN
Description:
Palace Walk is the first novel in Nobel Prize-winner Naguib Mahfouz’s magnificent Cairo Trilogy, an epic family saga of colonial Egypt that is considered his masterwork. The novels of the Cairo Trilogy trace three generations of the family of tyrannical patriarch al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, who rules his household with a strict hand while living a secret life of self-indulgence. Palace Walk introduces us to his gentle, oppressed wife, Amina, his cloistered daughters, Aisha and Khadija, and his three sons—the tragic and idealistic Fahmy, the dissolute hedonist Yasin, and the soul-searching in... continue
7.
River Spirit by Leila Aboulela EN
Description:
The spellbinding new novel from New York Times Notable Author and Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela about an embattled young woman’s coming of age during the Mahdist War in 19th century Sudan. Leila Aboulela, hailed as “a versatile prose stylist” (New York Times) has also been praised by J.M. Coetzee, Ali Smith, and Ben Okri, among others, for her rich and nuanced novels depicting Islamic spiritual and political life. Her new novel is an enchanting narrative of the years leading up to the British conquest of Sudan in 1898, and a deeply human look at the tensions between Britain and Sudan, Chri... continue
8.
The Automobile Club of Egypt by Alaa Al Aswany EN
Description:
In British-occupied Egypt, on the eve of the 1952 revolution, respected landowner Abd el-Aziz Gaafar has fallen on hard times. Bankrupt, he moves his family to Cairo and takes a menial job at the Automobile Club, a luxurious lodge for its European members, where Egyptians appear only as fearful servants. When Abd el-Aziz’s pride gets the better of him and he stands up for himself, he is subjected to a corporal punishment that ultimately kills him—leaving two of his sons obliged to work in the Club. As the nation teeters on the brink of change, both servants and masters are subsumed by social u... continue
9.
The Day the Leader Was Killed by Naguib Mahfouz EN
Description:
From the Nobel Prize laureate and author of the acclaimed Cairo Trilogy, a beguiling and artfully compact novel set in Sadat's Egypt. The time is 1981, Anwar al-Sadat is president, and Egypt is lurching into the modern world. Set against this backdrop, The Day the Leader Was Killed relates the tale of a middle-class Cairene family. Rich with irony and infused with political undertones, the story is narrated alternately by the pious and mischievous family patriarch Muhtashimi Zayed, his hapless grandson Elwan, and Elwan's headstrong and beautiful fiancee Randa. The novel reaches its climax with... continue
10.
The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz EN
Description:
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, Naguib Mahfouz is perhaps the best-known living Arab writer. His books have had great success in this country, particularly The Cairo Trilogy. Fans of the famed trilogy will be delighted with The Harafish, an epic novel that chronicles the dramatic history of the al-Nagi family -- a family that moves, over many generations, from the height of power and glory to the depths of decadence and decay. The Harafish begins with the tale of Ashur al-Nagi, a man who grows from humble beginnings to become a great leader, a legend among his people. Generat... continue