Three classic novels by renowned feminist writer and activist Nawal El Saadawi. A peasant family is torn apart by a village mayor and his lackeys in God Dies by the Nile, Saadawi's dark parable of poverty, female exploitation, injustice and religious hypocrisy in rural Egypt. In Searching the disappearance of her lover causes Fouda to question everything. Circling Song is a hypnotic meditation on gender, class and state violence told through the story of two mysterious twins.

Nawal el Saadawi's classic tale attempts to square Islam with a society in which women are respected as equals is as relevant today as ever. 'People have become corrupt everywhere. You can search in vain for Islam, or a devout Muslim. They no longer exist.' Kafr El Teen is a beautiful, sleepy village on the banks of the Nile. Yet at its heart it is tyrannical and corrupt. The Mayor, Sheikh Hamzawi of the mosque, and the Chief of the Village Guard are obsessed by wealth and use and abuse the women of the village, taking them as slaves, marrying them and beating them. Resistance, it seems, is futile. Zakeya, an ordinary villager, works in the fields by the Nile and watches the world, squatting in the dusty entrance to her house, quietly accepting her fate. It is only when her nieces fall prey to the Mayor that Zakeya becomes enraged by the injustice of her society and possessed by demons. Where is the loving and peaceful God in whom Zakeya believes?"

This translation originally published: 1985.

Three classic novels by renowned feminist writer and activist Nawal El Saadawi. A peasant family is torn apart by a village mayor and his lackeys in God Dies by the Nile, Saadawi's dark parable of poverty, female exploitation, injustice and religious hypocrisy in rural Egypt. In Searching the disappearance of her lover causes Fouda to question everything. Circling Song is a hypnotic meditation on gender, class and state violence told through the story of two mysterious twins.

As a companion for reading her fiction and nonfiction, this volume contextualizes her work by taking into consideration the complexities of Egyptian society today - in particular, Islamic fundamentalism and women's status. It also introduces the current scholarly debate on ancient women's status. Chapters on individual novels look both at technique (oral literary traditions, woman's narrative, imagery) and topic (female circumcision, gender roles, prostitution, honor killing). Novels examined are Two Women in One; The Circling Song; Woman at Point Zero; God Dies By the Nile.

Provides concise information on landmark novels and their impacts on society throughout history and around the world.