The Cairo House

A semi-autobiographical novel that evokes an Egypt now lost, and the consequences of its decline - for the country, and for the heart of one young woman... The Second World War ends and an age of unprecedented luxury begins for Cairo's elite. Gigi is born into an exotic milieu of political intrigue and social prominence, an endless round of parties and gossip paced to match the shaded languor of the palaces and gardens on the Nile. But this dream-like world is soon swept away by the winds of revolution. With King Faruk deposed, the rich families find themselves edged out of politics - and sometimes out of the country itself. Now Gigi faces a conflict between an arranged marriage and the loss of her family, between exile in America with the man she loves and the powerful pull of her Cairo roots...