First published in Arabic in 2018; translated to English by S R Fellowes in 2021.

This novel, set in 2011, explores the Arab Spring through the perspectives of fictional Egyptian characters. There is General Alwany, a high-ranking army official, his daughter a graduate doctor, who sympathises with the revolution, as well as middle class families, teachers and factory workers.

It’s fast paced and easy to read; although gruesome and horrifying in parts. I was 14 at the time of the Egyptian revolution and knew very little around the events in Tahir Square. It’s thought-provoking, surrounded in big questions around power, politics, religion, dissent and cynicism. A really good read, and resonates after you have finished it.