Heliopolis

Author's name: Mai Al-Telmasandaar Publication: Dar Al-Shurooq Publication year: 2020 Literary classification: Novel Brief about the book: In the novel "Heliopolis," Mai Al-Telmasani records the life of the place through the eyes of the heroine Mickey, but Mickey here is almost just a camera to convey the life of the place and the characters or considered as a mosaic complementing the firm existence of things, and it is truly remarkable that this incidental and spontaneous existence of the characters amidst the places and pieces of furniture gives them a much stronger presence and life than if they were the target. The hero in this novel is the place where the novel was born, that Cairo neighborhood founded at the beginning of the century by a Belgian investor, Baron Empain. And the subject of the novel is "loss and retrieval." The place here is not a decoration nor a background for events, nor even an environment that creates the characters, but it is the main event. And because the author does not use emotional language nor mourn a beautiful past but merely records it with pure, transparent language, the feeling of loss becomes more painful. Mashallah