Blood at the Shrine

About this book

Cairo, the 1920s: a city groaning under the weight of occupation yet refusing to die, secretly blazing with the fire of the 1919 revolution. There the threads of politics and repression intertwine not only with each other but with the finest threads of the heart and its most dangerous secrets. This is no tale of a bygone Cairo but of a homeland trying to be born anew from the ashes of oppression — of individuals placed by fate at a crossroads between their dearest possession and their greatest faith. At the heart of this struggle stands Amer, the young man who saw in the blood of the English general the price of a dear freedom — but a bullet of treachery was lying in wait for him. With Amer's death, no hero alone falls; an entire world built on secrecy and pact collapses. Fatima, daughter of the wealthy merchant who sees in the occupation "the shop's best customer," is buried with him; she discovers that her heroic love for Amer and her secret marriage contract have become a curse haunting her — especially when a secret grows in her womb that can no longer be hidden. On the other side, Rifaat Salem, commander of the secret organization, swears that the blood will not be spilled in vain. A historical epic of occupied Cairo where the shrine becomes the last appointment of vengeance, love, and freedom — and where every pact has its price in blood.