Lyrics Alley

Mohammad Bey is the patriarch of the wealthy Abuzeid family and his two wives—a young, modern Egyptian and an older, traditional Sudanese woman—embody the tensions of the day as they wage battle over polarizing issues like female circumcision. When a paralyzing injury crushes the dreams of Nur Abuzeid, the young heir to the Abuzeid dynasty, it shakes the entire family. A love story between Nur and his teenaged cousin in 1950s Sudan becomes a love story for a country in transition. As Nur finds his calling as a poet, his struggle for self-expression gives him a reason to live and the reader a reason to keep turning the pages.