A day before the setback

The novel "Before the Defeat by a Day" by its author Dr. Iman Yahya illuminates for the generations who did not witness the 1967 defeat the causes and reasons that led to that national catastrophe. Through the two years preceding the defeat, and through three voices of sixties youth, the novel flows with personal and public events. The lines of the novel convey the complete picture of Egyptian society at that time: conversations, lifestyle, ideas, songs, and movies. The way people thought, and the dreams that haunted them. The public ambitions that reached space exploration coexist with the dreams of the poor for equality and justice. We will witness the liberation of women in their clothing, their right to marry whom they love, and their integration into the labor market. The slogans of socialism and social progress raised, without true political democracy. What happened inside the Socialist Union, the emerging Youth Organization, and the 1966 delegate conference. How did intellectuals, poets, and writers of the revolutionary generation rebel against its authority? And how did secret opposition organizations emerge? The novel tells of the clash between the revolutionary generation and its leaders. It describes the rise of the beneficiaries of the revolution, from bureaucracy and opportunism. Karima, Abdel Maati, and Hamza are three characters taking turns narrating. Are they victims or also perpetrators?! What happened before June 67, to make Egypt face a disaster that can only be compared to the British occupation of 1882? This is what the novel "Before the Defeat by a Day" tries to answer!