Friendly Fire

FRIENDLY FIRE is a novella and collection of short stories from Alaa Al Aswany� author of the bestselling THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING. As in that novel� Al Aswany dissects modern Egyptian society and reveals with skill and detachment the hypocrisy� violence and abuse of power characteristic of a world in moral crisis. Here� though� the focus has shifted from the broad historical canvas to the minute stitches of pain that hold together an individual� a family� a school classroom� or the relationship between a man and a woman. Can a man so alienated from his society that he regards all its members as no better than microbes wriggling under a microscope survive within it? Can cynical religiosity triumph over human decency? Can a man put the thought of a delicious dish of beans behind him long enough to mourn his father's death? Alongside these wry questions� other� less mordant perspectives also have their place: an ageing cabaret dancer bestows the blessing of a vanished world on her lover's son; a crippled boy wins subjective victory from objective disaster. In Friendly Fire� readers will find again the vivid� passionate characters of today's Cairo� clamouring to be heard.

FRIENDLY FIRE also features an introduction by Alaa Al Aswany giving the history of the novella� 'The Isam Abd el-Ati Papers'� which was banned in Egypt for a decade.