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I just finished The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif, and oh, but I loved it so, so much - seriously one of my favorite books ever. I don't really have enough praise for it, but it's so wonderful on every sense.
It is about Anna, an English widow in 1901 that goes to Egypt and falls in love with both the land and Sharif Basha, a nationalist fighter. It's about Isabel, Anna's great-grandaughter in 1997 that goes to Egypt after she finds Anna's diaries, and finally, it's about Amal, Isabel's distant cousin, who tries to make sense of Anna's story while trying to come to grips with her Egyptian and Muslim heritage and her English family.
The story of these three women, laced with the politics of their respective timeframes is so well constructed - the novel is quite political, and it's such a fine portrait of Egyptian life through an insider. The prose is absolutely gorgeous, the characters so real and everything is just, dunno, thouching, it's just so incredibly well written.
Read it folks, I mean it. You'll love it, promise.
It is about Anna, an English widow in 1901 that goes to Egypt and falls in love with both the land and Sharif Basha, a nationalist fighter. It's about Isabel, Anna's great-grandaughter in 1997 that goes to Egypt after she finds Anna's diaries, and finally, it's about Amal, Isabel's distant cousin, who tries to make sense of Anna's story while trying to come to grips with her Egyptian and Muslim heritage and her English family.
The story of these three women, laced with the politics of their respective timeframes is so well constructed - the novel is quite political, and it's such a fine portrait of Egyptian life through an insider. The prose is absolutely gorgeous, the characters so real and everything is just, dunno, thouching, it's just so incredibly well written.
Read it folks, I mean it. You'll love it, promise.