Palace Walk [Cairo Trilogy, Volume One].

New York, NY Doubleday: Anchor, 1991. Paperback First Edition Thus in the USA (1991), so stated. First Printing indicated by a complete numerical sequence. First Edition Thus in the USA (1991), so stated. First Printing indicated by a complete numerical sequence. Very Good in Wraps: shows indications of careful use: slight spine lean; just a touch of wear to the extremities; some faint stress creases to the backstrip; the expected faint tanning to the text pages, due to aging; the binding remains secure; the text is clean. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing wear and minor, unobtrusive imperfections. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (9.25 x 6 x 1.25 inches). 498 pages. Language: English. Weight: 22.6 ounces. Trade Paperback. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. Book One of the Cairo Trilogy. Naguib Mahfouz's wonderful novel Palace Walk was originally published in Arabic in 1956, and not translated to English until 1990. Why the publisher waited so long to make this beautiful and sad novel available to a wider audience is beyond me. At least, better late than never!! In broad outline, this is the story of Al-Sayyid Ahmad, a shopkeeper in Cairo during and after World War I, his wife, Amina, and the lives and courtships of their several children. The novel offers profound insight into a different culture and religion. Al-Sayyid has literally a dual personality -- petty tyrant at home, with his wife and children; bon vivant and man-about-town with his friends. Because of the harsh sexual segregation in his traditional Arab home, his wife is none the wiser, but his older sons learn of first hand then come to emulate their father's lifestyle. Although the subject matter is "small" -- a middle-class family's domestic issues -- this is unquestionably a "big" book, raising issues of religion, class, gender, and integrity. Mahfouz is also a wonderful writer, and conveys his characters with humor, insight, and clarity. Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and it is easy to see why.