"While the fading autumn sun sped toward the horizon, the young boys headed home - they were not used to trying to see at night without the moon's glow." So begins this uncoventional, hauntingly mythic novel. In the tradition of magical-realism, author Ibrahim Abdel Megid crafts a tale steeped in symbolism. Writing in a shimmering lyrical style he brings alive the dreams, customs, and everyday concerns of people living in historic obscurity on the fringe of the glitzy, petrodollar kingdoms of the Middle East. The tale begins on a worksite in Egypt's western desert. Here, in the middle of...