Leila Aboulela evokes delight in her haunting and beautifully written novel. She brings to life the cultures of Egypt and the Sudan in the 1950’s through the minutiae of a traditional household reflected in the changing political climate of British rule. This is a subtle and sensitive love story reflecting conflicts of the diverse cultures of Sudan and Egypt.

Nur is the handsome heir to a successful trading business and in love with his cousin Soraya to whom he is engaged when an accident leaves him paralysed.

This leaves the whole family in disarray with unfulfilled expectations, a broken engagement and his father’s marital discord between his two wives.

Nur turns to poetry and Aboulela’s prose weaves throughout the hidden markets of Sudan and Egypt tracing the alleyways of the mind and spirit through its rage, dishonour, hate and love.