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Ahdaf Soueif - The Map of Love

Egyptian author Ahdaf Soueif on her Booker-shortlisted novel The Map of Love. She explains exactly what has gone wrong in Egypt, in her eyes, over the last decade.

At this crucial moment in Egypt’s story, this month’s World Book Club talks to one of the country’s great writers, Ahdaf Soueif, about her internationally acclaimed novel The Map of Love.

In her Booker-shortlisted bestseller Soueif weaves together two poignant stories separated by a century of Egyptian history: a love story between aristocratic English Anna Winterbourne and romantic firebrand Sharif al-Baroudi, is set amidst the brutality of British imperialism and the fierce political battles of the Egyptian Nationalists. This tale reaches across time to an account of their descendants negotiating passions and political unrest in late 20th Century Egypt. We hear how Soueif had originally set out to write a ‘tawdry romance’ but hadn’t managed to stop herself writing something much more meaningful and monumental!

Listen to this great Egyptian voice clearly and compellingly explain exactly what has gone wrong in Egypt, in her eyes, over the last decade.

Available now

53 minutes

Last on

Sun 4 Aug 2013 21:06GMT

The World Book Club studio

The World Book Club studio
Ahdaf Soueif with Harriett Gilbert recording World Book Club.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 4 Aug 2013 08:06GMT
  • Sun 4 Aug 2013 21:06GMT

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