[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ⑩
[14] When Hisham left his car and entered the villa with his dogs which only left him at the hobby door, his father was getting ready to go out. He didn’t like the noise that accompanied Hisham : “What’s the matter, Hisham? Are you off today? I can’t stay up late with you tonight. Viola […]
[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ⑨
[13] Only the barks of a dog accompany him on his way in the darkness. Birds are asleep, donkeys silent and people went to bed. This is Emad crossing the dusty track along the small canal on his way home. He keeps thinking about Donia. The distance between the villa and his house, like the […]
[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ⑧
[12] When Khodeir’s phone call ended, Dr Karim felt deeply worried. His uneasy calm abroad disappeared the moment he set foot at Cairo International Airport after many years of living abroad. He thought he had accomplished the most important mission in his life: that Donia be brought up well, distinguish between right and wrong, to […]
[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ⑦
[11] On the way back home Khodeir drives slowly along Cairo’s busy streets with elevated bumps, repeating his familiar sentence: “Cairo his become just a big bump with a million children who play with our cars. As he drives fast along the Nile, Donia asks herself: “What attracts me to Emad? I didn’t have time […]
[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ⑥
[9] Donia bought some pancakes from the cafeteria opposite the College of Fine Arts and ate them on her way to the art hall before going to the Hanager gallery in Gezeira, then goes back home for an early dinner or late lunch with her father. A slim girl, looking like a porcelain doll with […]
[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ⑤
[7] Near Shamawes, and on the road to Tura, small groups of gypsies live in canvas and tin slums. Nothing shows they are alive except the lean animals grazing near them, some dogs which bark at night and a few she-goats’ bleatings. You see them in the village of Shamawes collecting garbage. They may be […]
[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ④
[5] A whole day may pass without seeing her. He gets up early in the morning, according to his thirty – year biological clock. He waits to her in the horizon cross the green path on her way back from the village of Shamawes. She cuts her heart, as a knife cuts a ripe fruit, […]
[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ③
[3] Crossing the doorstep of the Orchard villa on my way out, I looked for the driver who was waiting on the paved road. As he saw me he threw the cigarette but conspicuously perhaps to show me that he did that for my sake. As soon as we sat in the car he began […]
[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ②
[1] The air streams through the car window. I sat in the back seat. I was confused, not knowing where to look. The Nile is on the right with a long corniche as old as time; Cairo’s buildings on the left, with varying spaces in between as well as heights. There is a boat on […]
[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ①
*Editor’s note: We start to carry “The road to Shamawes,” a novel written by Egyptian novelist Ashraf Aboul-Yazid, in series. The novel was originally written in Arabic, and translated into Korean and English. The novelist, now working as a journalist in Kuwait, also serves as the editor of the Arabic version of The AsiaN. Shamawes is not a real place; […]