La república era esto

About this book

Cairo, January 2011. In the wake of the Arab springs, the people demonstrate in Tahrir Square in an attempt to overthrow the Mubarak regime. This novel narrates, with a choral structure, the lives of various Egyptians in those days of hope. Among the characters that appear here is a medical student whose father runs the secret services; her classmate, the son of a modest chauffeur; an English teacher who refuses to wear a veil; an engineer involved in union struggles; the head of a factory, who dreamed of revolutionary ideals in the 1970s; a Coptic actor addicted to hashish; his wife, who hates him; and an unscrupulous television presenter... Through these and other protagonists, the author draws a complete and pulsating map of the complex Egyptian society. The novel investigates the political situation, in the bowels of the country, with all its contradictions and paradoxes, and in the stories of each of these human beings, faced with a historical moment that will change their lives forever.

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