Books

Midaq Alley, by Naguib Mahfouz (1947)

This superb slice-of-life tale from Egyptian Nobel laureate Mahfouz is set in the seedy back alleys of 1940s Cairo, where the lives of an eccentric cast of characters intertwine, including a coffeehouse owner, an orphan drawn into prostitution, and a man who earns his livelihood disfiguring people to help them become more successful beggars.

The Yacoubian Building: A Novel, by Alaa Al Aswany (2002)

A vision of faded art deco glory, the Yacoubian Building is home to a fascinating group of modern Cairenes living in downtown's smog. The bestselling novel's taboo-breaking sexual frankness, religious extremism, and political corruption caused immediate scandal in the Arab world upon publication.

A Café on the Nile, by Bartle Bull (1998)

Bull artfully chronicles an old-fashioned adventure of espionage and valiant acts starting at Cataract Café on a barge in Cairo and journeying on safari in pre-World War II eastern Africa.

The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World, by Lucette Lagnado (2007)

Lagnado evokes the cosmopolitan glamour of mid-century Cairo as she remembers it when she was a young Egyptian Jewish girl whose father consorted with British officers and Egyptian royalty at French cafés instead of spending time at home with his family. Forced to flee their beloved homeland in 1963 during the Nasser regime, Lagnado's family escapes to Paris and ultimately winds up in Brooklyn—armed with 26 suitcases filled with trinkets from their former lavish lifestyle.