Shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Prize in 2010, this finely constructed epic traces the turbulent life of Aisha, an Egyptian girl raised in a Christian convent beyond the reach of a predatory uncle. With her English education, Aisha crosses paths with Lord Cromer, British consul-general of Egypt, and famed archaeologist Howard Carter, with whom she will trek to locate Tutankhamen's tomb. Fate briefly favors Aisha when she falls in love with the Egyptian sculptor Mahmoud Mukhtar, until events conspire to move her life along adarker path. Part allegory, part magical realism, this novel is threaded with aspects of Egyptian antiquity, including semihistorical accounts of the excavations of ancient Egyptian relics and the tortured jealousies that accompanied them. A deftly written journey through momentous occasions in world history, A Cloudy Day on the Western Shore explores questions of Egypt's identity and history, and the implications—for better or worse—of European exploitation of the treasures of pharaonic civilization. Novelist Qandil skillfully allows readers to encounter complex questions of colonialism, gender, and sectarianism—all through the symbolic lens of an unlikely Egyptian heroine.

It's the dawn of the twentieth century, and Britain's glittering Empire extends far and wide, full of the dangerously seductive promise of untapped riches. Englishman Howard Carter's artistic talent takes him on an expedition attempting to locate Tutankhamen's tomb in Egypt. There, amidst growing unrest between the tyrannical British rulers and the so-called “barbarians,” he meets Aisha. At first glance, modest, stammering Howard has nothing whatsoever in common with Aisha, the young Egyptian whose profile bears more than a passing resemblance to Nefertiti's beautiful face as depicted on the Pharaonic relics Howard loves so much. A bewildering mix of contradictions, Aisha is a village girl, yet she speaks four languages; Muslim, yet she has a tattoo of the cross on her arm; a stranger, yet with an achingly familiar face. A page-turning gallop through some of the most momentous occasions in recent world history, CLOUDY DAY ON A WESTERN SHORE also explores questions of national identity and the implications of European intervention--for better or worse--in the discovery and exploration of some of the most beautiful treasures on earth today.

Al-'Arabiyya is the annual journal of the American Association of Teachers of Arabic and serves scholars in the United States and abroad. Al-cArabiyya includes scholarly articles and reviews that advance the study, research, and teaching of Arabic language, linguistics, literature, and pedagogy.