Leila Aboulela was born in Cairo, grew up in Khartoum and moved in her mid-twenties to Scotland. She is the author of five novels, Bird Summons, The Translator, a New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year, The Kindness of Enemies, Minaret and Lyrics Alley, Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Aboulela was the first winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing and her latest story collection, Elsewhere, Home won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award.At The Week magazine Aboulela recommended six books, including:
Read about another entry on the list.Autumn Quail by Naguib Mahfouz (1962).
The Egyptian revolution of 1952 sweeps civil servant Isa aside; he loses his job and his fiancée dumps him. Mahfouz, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, details Isa's fall on the wrong side of history — all of this against the bleak backdrop of a wintry windswept Alexandria, empty of holidaymakers.
--Marshal Zeringue