Virgins of Paradise

by Barbara Wood

Her father and uncles had killed her, as was their right because, as the saying went, "Only blood washes away dishonor."

Muslim Brotherhood.

The future was written in His book long ago.

Edward Westfall, the twenty-six-year-old son of the Earl of Pemberton,

At five and a half, she was already exhibiting a thirst for knowledge; she had once said that books were so wonderful because every time you turned a page, there was something new, something you didn't know before. Yasmina was ahead of the others in her alif-ba's,

thought: I shall be a great-grandmother, and not yet sixty!

"Eddie! My God, Eddie!"

Anwar Sadat,

leave the country by six o'clock that night, or suffer the consequences.

General Abdel Nasser,

crimson cyclamen.

"And who is this lady who is so beautiful she shames the moon?"

since the Soviets had come to help build the High Dam at Aswan.

Surely not to her father, because Omar knew Uncle Ibrahim's secret. And he laughed now, to think about it.

after the Suez War, in which Egypt had been defeated by Israel,

Nasser, and Egyptians loved a hero. Nasser's picture

John Kennedy,

Amira was fifty-eight,

Aswan Dam,

breath we draw was preordained by the Eternal One.

All of you, go to your rooms now and allow God's peace to enter our house."

"But the laws are unfair to women, Umma,"

You only listen to the radio, but the papers are full of such stories.

"That's a law for women. There are laws for men, too, Umma. But the ones governing men are ignored."

"The laws of God are just, Umma, but the laws of men, which they have subverted from the Koran, are not just. Look, I'll show you another example."

But, as Umma had always said, words once uttered could not be called back.

The night Ibrahim had cursed God.

if he couldn't keep lustful thoughts about Tahia out of his mind?

It is a lonely feeling, not to know one's ancestry.

Jamal Rasheed's stars when she had chosen him to marry Camelia.

that brutal separation from her mother long ago had left her with a legacy of insecurity—

whole buildings collapsing without warning,

Nasser's government.

"Someone who was once your friend. Hassan al-Sabir."

Melancholia, it said on the death certificate.

but he had already learned to laugh at himself, the way Egyptians did.

Sometimes it was necessary to keep secrets in order to protect the family honor.

"Because Amira is my mother. My real name is Fatima. I am Fatima Rasheed, and I am your aunt."

Hosni divorced me because I didn't get pregnant. I was an affront to his virility."

"Uncle Hakim is a wonderful man."

"The day I was born I was condemned. I did not know my accusers. I did not see the judge. The verdict came down as

I drew in my first breath. Woman."

be cast out of your family, especially a large family like the Rasheeds, and to be treated as if you were dead ... it is a terrible thing, Camelia.

It is for her to make the first step.

are my auntie, you are my family. And I will never stop dancing."

Europe and America speak of the rights of Israel, but where are the rights of the Arabs?

Not one of them speaks of the rights of the Palestinian people in their own homeland. We alone will make the stand for our brothers."

"Egypt, Israel! We are all the children of the Prophet Ibrahim. Why do we fight among ourselves?"

"It is Fatima who must come back and ask for forgiveness."

But Dahiba, being as stubborn as her mother, had not come, and Amira now regretted her own obstinacy.