At Bab Zuweila

"e;A truly remarkable book, in the fullest and truest sense of the word."e;This is how the Dean of Arabic Literature, Taha Hussein, introduces this unique historical novel, which recounts the end of the Mamluk era in Egypt with the hanging of their last Sultan at Bab Zuweila. As oppression grew heavier on the resident Roman merchants and their families, and unbearable taxes were imposed upon them, Prince Tuman Bay advised his Sultan, al-Ghawri, to lift the injustice. The Sultan responded by ordering the arrest and torture of the treasurer, demanding that he repay the wealth he had stolen refusing even the intercession of his Roman son-in-law. He went further, decreeing the separation of the Roman from his family. Enraged, the man fled to his kin in Ottoman lands, determined to avenge himself. An incident like this might have passed unnoticed, yet it changed the course of history: war soon knocked on the doors of a once-peaceful land, and the Ottoman banner was raised over the throne of Egypt.