“The alleys, the houses, the palaces and mosques and the people who live among them are evoked as vividly in Mahfouz’s work as the streets of London were conjured up by Dickens.” This Newsweek review of PALACE WALK is spot on. The streets, bazaars, customs, and characters are so vividly brought to life that I felt I walked among them. But this beautiful tale is also a device that prompts serious thought and discussion about faith, nationalism, and colonization.

First and foremost, it is about a Godly family whose true faith is worn like a cloak of comfort that provides the right prayers and attitudes in nearly every situation. Yet this cloak also has a hood which can be pulled over the head to block out the unsavory aspects and choices of life that the wearer wishes to ignore.

Set during World War I, the story begins with Amina, a faithful wife of 25 years to Sayyid — a sternly religious man who rules his family with an iron fist as he guides them in the traditional, strict faith of his family. In her 25 years as wife, Amina has been allowed to visit her mother on a handful of occasions. Other than that she and her daughters have NEVER left the house or been seen by anyone other than family. Yet Amina is comforted by her faith which instructs her to respect her husband’s leadership over the family. “She had no regrets at all about reconciling herself to a type of security based on surrender.” (p 8.)

As is the case in most religions, the men of the family are allowed much greater latitude. Sayyid respects his wife as commanded by his faith — yet has no problem going out every night to party with his friends and a string of lovers. He returns each night to the attentive, loving care of his wife. Amina refuses to see anything wrong with her husband’s actions, and retreats to the comforting scripture that her hood of religion provides. As for Sayyid’s faith, “His faith was deep. It was true that he had inherited it and that there was no room for innovation in it. All the same, his sensitivity, discernment, and sincerity had added an elevated, refined feeling to it, which prevented it from being a blind traditionalism or a ritualism inspired by nothing but desire or fear. The most striking characteristic of his faith as a whole was its pure, fertile love. Using it, he set about performing all his duties to God, like prayer, fasting, or almsgiving, with love, ease, and happiness; not to mention clear conscience, a heart abounding in love for people, and a soul that was generous in its gallantry and help for others.” (p. 47) The irony is that his family NEVER sees this loving, funny, friendly side of him.

The oldest son, Yasin, lives a hedonistic lifestyle, and grasps at religion only tangentially. The middle son Fahmy is devoutly religious and nationally idealistic as he secretly joins the resistance against English colonial rule of Egypt. The youngest son, Kamal, is still in elementary school and interjects the sweet, innocent, funny moments that this heavy tale needs. [Since PALACE WALK is the first book of a trilogy, I suspect that Kamal will rise to the role of protagonist in the sequel.]

The daughters, Khadija and Aisha, fall between Yasin and Fahmy in age, and live the cloistered life of their mother. The expectation is that their marriage will be arranged without the groom ever seeing them before the wedding, and the customs described in their journeys through this book were the most intriguing to me.

As a woman, one of the saddest moments for me in the book was when Yasin married a woman who had been given much freedom by her father as she grew up. When she moved into the home of the strict Sayyid, I was hoping that she would be able to show Amina that women of faith didn’t have to live the lonely, jailed life that Amina had experienced for the last 25 years. However, “In Amina’s opinion, Zaynab was arrogating to herself masculine prerogatives…. Thus in one month of living with this new woman, Amina’s pure, devout soul was soiled by rancor and resentment after a lifetime of earnestness, discipline, and fatigue during which her heart had known nothing but obedience, forgiveness, and serenity.” This particular subplot reinforces the theme of THE HANDMAID’S TALE that a system of misogyny and suppression of women cannot exist without the help and participation of those very women.

Throughout the book, Fahmy’s participation in the resistance against the English colonization and rule of Egypt is the thread of a subplot that actually provides the climax of the book. Amina doesn’t want him to participate because she fears for his safety, and because they’ve “been ruling us for a long time." Sayyid is more direct: “His children were meant to be a breed apart, outside the framework of history…. The revolution and everything it accomplished were no doubt beneficial, so long as they remained far removed from his household.” Both of these sentiments are universal and can be seen even in our current time: As long WE are okay, life is good… and war is fine as long as MY children aren’t fighting it.

Another contemporary correlation to the book is the current era of Christians in America who were deceived into believing that their vote for the most vile, profane, bigoted, misogynist ever to run for the U.S. President would catapult him into a position of statesmanship and leadership. Instead, when he continues to be vile and profane, those same Christians pull up their hood of religion and simply say, “It’s in God’s hands” or “we should pray for him” instead of saying, “I’m sorry I ever voted for him. Where can I join the resistance?"

As someone who loves and follows politics for fun, I have most assuredly read more into the plots and subplots of this novel than others might. So I want to stress that it is quite possible to read this book simply as a fantastic historical fiction filled with lively characters and exciting subplots. I truly hope you read it and enjoy it as much as I did.