cover image October in Cairo

October in Cairo

M. Cruz. Permanent Press (NY), $26 (253pp) ISBN 978-0-932966-84-1

The author of Exiles here creates an appealing American journalist, Luz Gracida, who writes for two Spanish-language newspapers and is in Cairo to cover the eighth-anniversary celebration of 1973's October War. On the ride from the airport, the cab she shares with a former U.S. Congressman is shot at, but they are convinced by their driver not to inform the police. The driver is involved with the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical group plotting the assassination of Sadat. Luz soon discovers that her former lover, an Egyptian named Ali Salah, whom she'd known in college in the States, is also part of the cabal. Falling in love and quickly marrying Leonard Berg, a political analyst from the American embassy, Luz tours Cairo and its environs, trying to sort out the differing views of modern Egypt that she hears from both Ali's group and from Leonard. After the chaos and drama of Sadat's assassination the day of the parade, Luz helps Ali escape the city, placing herself and Leonard in jeopardy. While inconsistencies in plot and characterization impede the story line, the novel accurately portrays the explosive social and political milieu of contemporary Egypt. (July)