Advice from a Stranger

About this book

Between the alleys of yearning and the thresholds of warm Egyptian houses, Mamdouh Badran weaves in his book "Advice from a Stranger" threads of tales resembling all of us. This is no mere collection of vernacular poetry, but a mirror reflecting our faces in moments of breaking and triumph, in the loss that breaks the back, and in the love that rebuilds the soul. The writer begins with a journey of extreme sweetness of fidelity, dedicating his words to his father who departed leaving behind a broken back and an irreplaceable intimacy, to his mother who was "his companion and secret," and to his wife whom he sees as the most beautiful gift of fate. The book's tone progresses from the mystery of advices cast by "a stranger" from afar, seeming like whispers of our hidden conscience, reaching an inspiration manifesting as a call to confrontation and struggle. Between the folds of the chapters, you will find yourself facing "the new Si El-Sayed" in his concept sanctifying woman's freedom, and before "Set El-Banat" whom the poet sees as light in the height of darkness. It is a literary work diving into the complications of human relationships, swinging between.