In British-occupied Egypt, on the eve of the 1952 revolution, respected landowner Abd el-Aziz Gaafar has fallen on hard times. Bankrupt, he moves his family to Cairo and takes a menial job at the Automobile Club, a luxurious lodge for its European members, where Egyptians appear only as fearful servants. When Abd el-Aziz’s pride gets the better of him and he stands up for himself, he is subjected to a corporal punishment that ultimately kills him—leaving two of his sons obliged to work in the Club.
As the nation teeters on the brink of change, both servants and masters are subsumed by social upheaval, and the Egyptians of the Automobile Club face a choice: to live safely but without dignity as servants, or to risk everything and fight for their rights. Exuberant and powerfully moving, The Automobile Club of Egypt is an essential work of social criticism from one of the Arab world’s greatest literary voices.
“Scathing, brilliantly executed. . . . Brim[s] with a large cast of memorable characters.” —The New York Times
“Wonderful. . . . Almost impossible to put down. . . . Combines terrific storytelling with historical empathy.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Seductive. . . . Rich and rewarding.” —The Boston Globe
“Aswany is a master of suspense. . . . Every character in his novel is patiently described in exquisite detail.” —The Christian Science Monitor
“[Al Aswany’s novels] are national epics of the intimate: they remind their readers that every household hosts its own incarnations of fundamentalism, despotism, corruption, and graft.” —Harper’s
“It’s a masterpiece, the warmest and finest and most involving Egyptian novel in the last thirty years.” —Open Letters Monthly
“Gripping. . . . A riveting family saga.” —The Toronto Star
“An important social satire and a harsh criticism of modern Egypt. . . . Al Aswany has once again delivered a remarkable and devastating portrait of a deeply unhappy society, in the guise of a novel that is at once funny, perceptive and affectionate.” —The Spectator
“[A] rich political fable. . . . [Al Aswany is] a charming, earthy, resourceful storyteller.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Entertaining. . . . Al Aswany memorably evokes corrupt British-occupied Egypt in the years before the 1952 revolution.” —Publishers Weekly
