cover image The Dissenters

The Dissenters

Youssef Rakha. Graywolf, $17 trade paper (296p) ISBN 978-1-64445-319-3

Rakha (Paulo) offers a rewarding and sprawling portrait of modern Egypt as reflected through the life story of a complicated Egyptian woman, Amna, after her death in 2015. It’s narrated by Amna’s son, Nour, who, since her death, has been experiencing elaborate visions of her life. In his narration, and in letters to his estranged sister, Shimo, he depicts Amna’s coming-of-age as a modern young woman in 1960s Cairo, her two marriages (first to a cruel and difficult man and then to a political idealist she adores, who is later imprisoned), her passionate friendships, the births of her children, her career in the service of the state, and the enlivening effect on her of the 2011 Tahrir Square protests. He reexamines himself through her stories as well, and the story of their nation: “A truth-seeker, a lover, a revolutionary—I could never be any of those things if I didn’t understand that I was an Egyptian woman’s son,” he reflects. The novel’s scope is massive, and its huge cast of minor characters can be overwhelming, but Amna is a fierce and multifaceted character, and she gives the novel a strong and humane spirit through which to examine the failures and compromises of hope and revolution in Egypt. Readers will be mesmerized. Agent: Ayesha Pande, Ayesha Pande Literary. (Feb.)