Light of My Eye affectionately recreates the waning days of the once thriving Jewish community of Cairo during the turbulent period between the collapse of the Egyptian monarchy and Nasser's rise to power. At the center of the novel are young Mona Castro and her family, whose lives and destinies are evoked in scenes that veer between poignancy and wit.

Mona's coming of age is marked by her rebellion against her domineering mother, the illness of the beloved family patriarch, and her half-innocent dalliance with an older man. The surrounding ensemble of relatives, as they attempt to cope with a history that will overwhelm them, intermingle with Mona's tale. The result is a chronicle, moving yet also amusing, of a proud, doomed family.

French writer Paula Jacques (born Paula Abadi, Cairo, 1949) has won acclaim for her novels evoking the Egyptian Jewish milieu of her childhood. She was awarded the prestigious Prix Femina in 1991. Susan Cohen-Nicole teaches modern languages at the Nightingale-Bamford School in New York City.