This was a good snapshot into an Egyptian family's life. I liked the historical account of the Egyptians protesting the English's stay, but mostly it was just a story of a family, and I'm not even sure if it was a typical family. It seemed that the head of the household was more strict than most of the Muslim men he surrounded himself with. The part that stands out the most was that the main character's wife wasn't allowed to leave her house and had remained within it's walls for 20 + years.