Midaq Alley

The primary setting for the novel, Midaq Alley, is a relic of a once glorious gem, located off historic Sanadiqiya Street in Cairo, Egypt. The surrounding quarters are Ghouriya and Sagha. The alley exists in isolation from them. It is a dead-end lined on one side by an importer's business operation, which employs outsider workers, a husband-and-wife run bakery, a confectionary that enjoys a good reputation outside the alley, a barbershop, two adjoining three-story houses, and Kirsha's Café, at night the alley's only source of illumination, where everyone congregates. The streets get washed on the few occasions Cairo gets rain. Most of the time, the inhabitants are indifferent and forgetful. The alley is said to weep in the morning, laugh in the evening, and in between, doors and windows creak open and shut.

Kirsha's Café

A dingy, dilapidated square room with arabesque-covered walls, a few couches...