The Automobile Club of Egypt
Cairo at the very end of Ottoman rule. Behind the doors of the Automobile Club of Egypt, Egyptian staff attend to the every need of Cairo's European elite - the way they always have done, it seems.
But soon the social upheaval out on the street will break its way through the club's gilded doors, and its inhabitants above and below stairs must all confront their choices: to live safely without dignity, or to fight for their rights and risk everything.
Reviews
"One of Egypt's most valuable writers" (Guardian)
"A scathing, brilliantly executed novel" (New York Times)
"A wonderful storyteller" (Spectator)
"Among the best writers in the Middle East today . . . Al Aswany has his own magic" (Guardian)
"A master observer of the human condition . . . unputdownable" (Literary Review)
"Gripping . . . a page-turner" (Toronto Star)
"Seductive . . . boasts rich and rewarding material" (Boston Globe)
"Wonderful . . . almost impossible to put down . . . combines terrific storytelling with historical empathy" (Star Tribune)
"[A] raucous, technicolor novel . . . its blazing heart is the seething discontent that led to the 1952 Revolution" (Booklist)
"A sharp, humorous novel" (CAROLINE MOORHEAD Spectator)
"There are many stories here. The book is elaborate to bursting point, but always controlled, always whole. It is as juicy and satisfying as a shiny apple, its taste both strange and familiar, compassionate and bitter" (The Times)
"Fabulous, acutely observed story of human foibles, full of vivid scenes and extraordinary characters" (Mail on Sunday)
"Addictively readable" (Independent)
"Absorbing" (Observer)
"Bewitching" (Scotsman)
"A scathing, brilliantly executed novel" (New York Times)
"A wonderful storyteller" (Spectator)
"Among the best writers in the Middle East today . . . Al Aswany has his own magic" (Guardian)
"A master observer of the human condition . . . unputdownable" (Literary Review)
"Gripping . . . a page-turner" (Toronto Star)
"Seductive . . . boasts rich and rewarding material" (Boston Globe)
"Wonderful . . . almost impossible to put down . . . combines terrific storytelling with historical empathy" (Star Tribune)
"[A] raucous, technicolor novel . . . its blazing heart is the seething discontent that led to the 1952 Revolution" (Booklist)
"A sharp, humorous novel" (CAROLINE MOORHEAD Spectator)
"There are many stories here. The book is elaborate to bursting point, but always controlled, always whole. It is as juicy and satisfying as a shiny apple, its taste both strange and familiar, compassionate and bitter" (The Times)
"Fabulous, acutely observed story of human foibles, full of vivid scenes and extraordinary characters" (Mail on Sunday)
"Addictively readable" (Independent)
"Absorbing" (Observer)
"Bewitching" (Scotsman)
