A vivid portrait of the lives of the Egyptian poor, particularly in the Nile Delta region, emerges in this collection of 24 short stories. El-Bisatie offers glimpses of the daily struggles and activities of old men, young women, prisoners, war widows, and everyone in between. Masterfully crafted, his stories cultivate in the reader compassion, hatred, understanding, and suspense.
Mohamed El-Bisatie has written several volumes of short stories and four novellas. Born in the Nile Delta, he now lives in Cairo. The late Denys Johnson-Davies published more than twenty-five volumes of stories, novels, plays, and poetry translated from modern Arabic literature. He lives in Cairo.
No rights in Egypt or Western Europe"el-Bisatie ... deserves wider recognition, and this collection—well printed and produced—can serve as an excellent introduction of his artistry and the world that it creates to the English-reading public."—Roger Allen, Journal of Arabic Literature
"A striking collection of twenty-four Egyptian stories set in the Nile Delta. The translator Denys Johnson-Davies has succeeded both in selecting stories representative of El-Bisatie's fiction and in maintaining the spirit of the original Arabic texts. As the stories present a panoramic view of life in the Nile Delta, they will appeal particularly to Western readers who are interested in Egypt, even as their esthetic and literary value endows them with a universal appeal."—World Literature Today
