Sayyidat al-Zamalekسيدة الزمالك

On the night of the incident, five individuals—led by the notorious safe-cracker "Jona Dario"—sneaked into the villa of Solomon Cicurel in the quiet Zamalek district to commit a crime; the only Egyptian among them had crossed their path by sheer coincidence, becoming their fifth accomplice. This event marked a pivotal turning point in the lives of the novel’s characters, set against an era of immense social and political upheaval—a society where the rules of the game shifted with every round. Novelist Ashraf El-Ashmawy surprises us with a work that is innovative in both form and structure; employing the vivid, visual language that characterizes his writing, he narrates the events through the voices of the characters themselves. Each risks everything to emerge a winner in a volatile society that constantly deals a new hand. Fate brought them together around a table spanning the breadth of the nation and the passage of time; they gamble with one another's destinies and manipulate the truth, yet no one can foresee how it will all end—no matter how meticulously the plans are laid.