From the most popular Egyptian novelist of his generation ( a suitable heir to the mantle worn by Naguib Mahfouz The Guardian ), a rollicking, exuberant and powerfully moving story of a family swept up by social unrest in post World War II Cairo. Once a respected landowner, Abd el-Aziz Gaafar fell into penury and moved his family to Cairo, where he was forced into menial work at the Automobile Club a refuge of colonial luxury for its European members...