Between the two palaces

Author: Mahfouz
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: Naguib Mahfouz is a Nobel laureate, and "The Cairo Trilogy" is one of his major works. The novel depicts the various changes in Egyptian social history from 1917 to 1944 through the different fates of three generations of a family. Each volume focuses on the life of one generation and names the book after the area where that generation lives. The work resembles a vibrant tapestry of modern Egyptian customs.
The first volume, A Place of the Sun, primarily describes the life of the father's generation, Ahmad, and the historical events they experience. Ahmad is both a trustworthy and patriotic merchant and a stern patriarch. While upholding traditional moral values, he defends his indulgences in pleasure and lust as acts of God's mercy and tolerance. His eldest son is idle and in wine and women; his second son is a young student who dies in a protest against colonial rule.