Between the two palaces

Although he used to indulge in alcohol every night to excess until drunkenness, he would not decide to return to his house until the alcohol's intoxication subsided, and he regained control of himself; out of concern for his dignity and the appearance he should have in his house. "Between the Two Palaces" is the first part of Naguib Mahfouz's trilogy, in which he combined the political and social history, through narrating the life of an Egyptian middle-class family; the family of "Sayyid Ahmed Abdul Gawad," starting from the late second decade of the twentieth century until the mid-1940s, and he skillfully highlighted the psychological and social dimensions of each character. The trilogy's events take place in the neighborhood of Al-Jamaliyya, which is named after one of its streets, "Between the Two Palaces" Street. In this part, Mahfouz narrates the daily life of the family, the harmonious contradictions shaped by social circumstances and nourished by the psychological makeup, the role played by each character, especially the character of "Sayyid Ahmed Abdul Gawad," which is difficult to categorize due to its many contradictions. The events of the novel begin with a calm rhythm that gradually rises until it reaches its peak with the events of the 1919 revolution and the martyrdom of "Fahmi," the family's second son.