International Book Group – Midaq Alley by Najīb Maḥfūẓ

The International Book Group at West Falmouth Library is a volunteer-led group that meets on the first Wednesday of each month 3:45-5 p.m. Selections have either foreign settings or foreign authors, usually both. New members are always welcome! Annual registration is requested to receive important communications about schedule or location changes. Meetings are both in-person and on Zoom.

Considered by many to be Mahfouz’s best novel, Midaq Alley centers around the residents of one of the hustling, teeming back alleys of Cairo. No other novel so vividly evokes the sights and sounds of the city. The universality and timelessness of this book cannot be denied.

“Naguib Mahfouz virtually invented the novel as an Arab form. He excels at fusing deep emotion and soap opera.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Mahfouz’s work is freshly nuanced and hauntingly lyrical. The Nobel Prize acknowledges the universal significance of his fiction.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review