Description

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

‘A moving portrait of Diwan and the Cairo that embraced it, an ode to all the people who have kept it going’ Harvard Review

In 2002, three young women with no business degrees, no formal training, and nothing to lose founded a fiercely independent bookstore. At the time, nothing like Diwan existed in Cairo. Culture was languishing under government mismanagement, and books were considered a luxury, not a necessity. Over the next decade, these three women would contend with censors, chauvinists, critics, one another and many people who said they would never succeed in establishing Diwan as Cairo’s leading bookstore.

Frank, fresh and very funny, Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller is a portrait of a country hurtling toward a revolution, a feminist rallying cry, and an unapologetic crash course in running a business under the law of entropy. Above all, it is a celebration of the power of words to bring us home.

‘A unique memoir about career, life, love, friendship, motherhood, and the impossibility of succeeding at all of them at the same time . . . fascinating. Blunt, honest, funny’
Jenny Lawson, author of Broken (in the best possible way)

‘For every reader who has found solace in the aisles of a bookstore’
Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here

Publisher Review

'A moving portrait of Diwan and the Cairo that embraced it, an ode to all the people who have kept it going' * Harvard Review * 'A unique memoir about career, life, love, friendship, motherhood, and the impossibility of succeeding at all of them at the same time. It is the story of Diwan, the first modern bookstore in Cairo, which was opened by three women, one of whom penned this book. As a bookstore owner I found this fascinating. As a reader I found it fascinating. Blunt, honest, funny' -- enny Lawson, author of Broken (in the best possible way) 'Each chapter tells of a different section of the bookshop/cafe, with the memoir exploring the many challenges and difficulties the women faced in their enterprise. Her story is a fascinating and enlightening one' * Choice Magazine *