Shadows Of Granada

Manal Elkady is an Egyptian author, physician, who lives in Cairo. She has published 14 books, in additional to a series of 16 booklets for teenage under the name "Great Ideas That Changed The World". She writes fiction in both Arabic and English, blends western and eastern traditions of storytelling. Her writings link diverse cultures, reflect interests in History, Philosophy, Sufism, Psychology, and Oral Cultures. Her novel Shadows Of Granada was published in Arabic 2014. She decided to rewrite it in English, to be read by English speaking people.

This is a historical novel, speaking about a critical period in the sixteenth century, connecting Granada to Egypt.

Dorra, a carpet weaver, her grandson Maa-alzahab, and her sister Sahar are the main characters that represent Granada. Ibrahem, the son of the head of merchants of Cairo, is the main character that represents Egypt. Through the sequence of events, Ibrahem travels to Granada and meets Dorra, her grandson, and her sister, and there they exchange their tales, joys, fears, hopes. As you turn the pages, you will be oriented of the struggle between exclusion, seclusion due to ideological differences from one side and open minds from the other side, represented by the great Arabian philosophers, Sufis who were stated in the novel as Averroes, Ibn-Arabi and Ibn-Tofail.


It is a story about human beings who loved life, were eager for every drop of it, yet were oppressed.


That period was critical. The author sets a question: "Who would have the upper hand- life or oppression?" The answer isn't easy.