Samia Serageldin est une auteure dont l'œuvre explore les subtilités de l'expérience humaine. Son écriture se caractérise par une profonde perspicacité psychologique et une observation aiguë des dynamiques sociales. À travers ses récits, elle explore les complexités de l'identité et de l'appartenance, réfléchissant souvent sur les thèmes du déplacement et de l'adaptation culturelle. La prose de Serageldin est élégante et évocatrice, entraînant les lecteurs dans des mondes richement imaginés.
Set against the backdrop of Egypt's dramatic historical shifts, this work explores the contrasting eras from the opulence of the pashas and King Farouk to the authoritarian regime of the 1952 colonels and beyond. It delves into the complexities of family dynamics and cultural evolution amidst societal upheaval, examining themes of status, loyalty, and the rise of fundamentalism in post-Sadat Egypt.
A beguiling, entrancing novel that tells the story of a prominent Egyptian family's struggle to survive the turmoil of post-World War II Cairo. Gigi grew up in a wonderful house in Cairo, a house that was home to a large, extended family. The men of the house were involved in politics and business, cotton and trading, and the women visited and gossiped, shopped and arranged marriages and other family matters. The house was always open to visitors, political associates, family: the traditional Egyptian hospitality mixed easily with a cosmopolitan style. It was an opulent world that seemed unchangeable. But the pashas' time was ending. Many were forced into exile, and for those who remained there was an uneasy mix of new expectations and old traditions. Gigi, a modern woman from a patrician background, faced the conflicts between a traditional marriage and the loss of a family, between exile and the need to create a new life while striving to stay in touch with her roots. Samia Serageldin's first novel is a brilliant, haunting and fascinating story of a woman, a family and a culture in transition.