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خالتي صفية والدير

خالتي صفية والدير

NovellaClassicsHistorical Fiction
Pages
141
Published
1991
Language
Arabic

Synopsis

Bahaa Taher's Aunt Safeya and the Monastery (خالتي صفية والدير, 1991) is set in an Upper Egyptian village, where the beautiful Safiya loves her cousin Harby — a strong, admired young man who never realizes how deeply she loves him. When Harby arranges her marriage to the wealthy, much older Pasha, Safiya accepts, bears a son named Hassan, and never forgives Harby's indifference to her love. Winner of Italy's Giuseppe Acerbi Prize (2000), the novel has been adapted into a television series and a play.

Vibe

EmotionalDarkReflective
Betrayal

Genres

Classics Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Romance

About the author

B
Bahaa Taher

Bahaa Taher (1935-2022) was an Egyptian novelist and short story writer whose work often drew on his family's roots in Upper Egypt. Barred from publishing in Egypt in 1975 under Anwar Sadat, he spent much of the following decade working as a translator for UNESCO in Geneva before returning home. He is best known for Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery (1991) and Sunset Oasis (2007), the latter winning the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction ("Arabic Booker") in 2008. In 1998 he received...

Characters

SafiyaProtagonist

A beautiful orphaned village girl raised by the narrator's family, who loves her cousin Harby but marries a wealthy, much older village bey instead.

HarbySupporting

Safiya's handsome, well-regarded cousin, expected to marry her but oblivious to her feelings, who later comes under suspicion from her husband over their newborn son.

HassanSupporting

Safiya and the bey's son, whose upbringing and an attempt on his safety become a turning point in the village's tensions.

BishaiSupporting

A Coptic monk at the neighboring monastery, remembered by the narrator as the friendliest of the monks and a mediating presence between the village's Muslim and Christian communities.

All characters in خالتي صفية والدير