Overview

An award-winning novelist’s vibrant portrayal of the struggle to create a more unified society in medieval Egypt and how this has shaped Egypt today. Brimming with intrigue, adventure, and romance, Al-Qata’i: Ibn Tulun’s City Without Walls tells the epic story of visionary Egyptian leader Ahmad Ibn Tulun who built Al-Qata’i (now Cairo) into a thriving multicultural empire. The novel begins with the rediscovery of the Ibn Tulun Mosque in 1918 and recounts Ibn Tulun’s life and legacy in the ninth and tenth centuries. Bassiouney presents Ibn Tulun’s benevolent vision to unify all Egyptians in a new city, Al-Qata’i. He becomes so focused on his vision, however, that he cannot see the impact it has on his family or the fate of Egypt. When a betrayal leads to his demise, the rival Abbasid caliph threatens to regain control of Al-Qata’i. In the aftermath of Ibn Tulun’s death, his daughter Aisha emerges as a pivotal figure, bravely taking a stand against the Abbasids to preserve her life, the city, and the iconic mosque. This contemporary Egyptian writer forces us to consider universal themes, such as diversity and equality, through both a historical and intercultural lens that enriches our understanding of these issues in our world today.

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9781647122874

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As in the coffeehouses of old Cairo, where the medieval epics were recited until the last century, the pleasure here is to be found in the storytelling itself ... A professor of linguistics as well as an award- winning novelist, [Bassiouney] is alive to the tricks of language and the words her characters dress themselves in. -- Amir-Hussein Radjy * Times Literary Supplement *

A professor of linguistics as well as an award- winning novelist, [Bassiouney] is alive to the tricks of language and the words her characters dress themselves in. -- Amir-Hussein Radjy * Times Literary Supplement *

As in the coffeehouses of old Cairo, where the medieval epics were recited until the last century, the pleasure here is to be found in the storytelling itself ... A professor of linguistics as well as an award- winning novelist, [Bassiouney] is alive to the tricks of language and the words her characters dress themselves in. -- Amir-Hussein Radjy * Times Literary Supplement * Reem Bassiouney is a contemporary and gifted Egyptian author that has his enthralled readers considering such universal themes as diversity and equality as viewed through historical and intercultural lenses that make his historical work of fiction one that will enrich his reader's understanding of these same issues as are presented in the contemporary world of today. Aptly translated from Arabic into English for an American readership by Roger Allen, Al-Qata'i: Ibn Tulun's City Without Walls is especially and unreservedly recommended for community and academic library Literary Fiction collections. * Midwest Book Review *

Author Information

Reem Bassiouney is an Egyptian author living in Cairo. She won the Naguib Mahfouz Award for best Egyptian novel for Sons of the People: The Mamluk Trilogy. She also won the 2009 Sawiris Foundation Literary Prize for Young Writers and the 2009 King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies Translation of Arabic Literature Award. Roger Allen is an Arabic literature scholar and translator. He is credited with bringing Naguib Mahfouz to international recognition.

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