An interesting book. A slow start but a very vivid depiction of life in Egypt in the early part of the 20th Century. Unfortunately, this led me to dislike virtually every character. Fascinating, yes, infuriating, also yes. The latter part of the book really brought forth Egypt's struggles to free themselves from colonial rule (a subtler issue through most of the book), providing more insight into the times.

Though I hadn't thought I'd been that fond of the book, I kept thinking about it and ended up picking up a copy of the second book in the Cairo Trilogy a day later.