In these two short novels, Bahaa Abdel Meguid displays the impressive range of his narrative imagination. Set in the lower-class Cairo district of Shubra, Saint Theresa tells the story of two young women, Budour and Sawsan, childhood friend who come of age following the 1967 war. Budour marries a humble tailor named Girgis, but begins an extended affair with his Jewish employer, Luka. Her friend Sawsan goes off to the university, only to fall in love with a dangerous young Marxist named Salim. From the ghost of a mad grandmother to student protests following Egypt's peace treaty with Israel,...