Mortal Designs: A Novel

Captain Murad is busy planning for the Afterlife.He dreams of a grand, sunlit mausoleum on the banks of the Nile.To realize his pharaonic folly, the retired captain kindles an unlikely romance between Hazem, a feckless architect longing for immortality, and Asma, an impoverished single mother who strives for a better life for her children. As Murad’s tomb rises on the riverbank, so Hazem and Asma fall in love.A contemporary Egyptian romance of rare grace and wit, played out by characters trapped in their attitudes toward class and gender.