Palace Walk

'lt is Mahfouz’s wonderful ability to delineate human beings from their outer appearances which gives "Palace Walk" its universal appeal. I shall read it again and again'

Alice Thomas Ellis, "Guardian"

'A masterpiece of character-drawing… Like all great writers, Mahfouz combines humour with irony and pathos, and undermines time-honoured judgements with subtlety and wit'

Nessim Dawood, "The Times"

'With "Palace Walk"… Mahfouz established himself as the Arab world’s leading realist, importing the methods he had learned from Flaubert and the Russians and applying them to the lives of the Cairene middle classes'

"Sunday Times"

'Nobel prizewinner Naguib Mahfouz’s wonderfully readable family saga "Palace Walk" provides a riveting and accurate portrait of Egyptian society at the beginning of the 20th century'

"Bookseller"

'There is nothing in world literature quite like "Palace Walk". In it Mahfouz created characters who are larger than life and yet perfectly credible, and he has explored their inner life with marvellous psychological penetration… This is writing worthy of a Tolstoy, a Flaubert or a Proust'

Philip Stewart, "Independent"

'…faced with the superbly translated first volume of his Cairo Trilogy… we find ourselves in the presence of a master… Mahfouz offers a romantic but naughtily detached insight into the toils of Egyptian domesticity'

"Mail on Sunday"

'The alleys, the houses, the palaces and mosques and the people who live among them are evoked as vividly in [Mahfouz's] work as the streets of London were conjured up by Dickens'

"Newsweek"

'A magnificent work'

"Chicago Sun-Times"

'"Palace Walk" is a feast indeed'

"Chicago Tribune"

'Rich in psychological insight and cultural observation… A majestic and capacious accomplishment'

"Boston Globe"

'The simple truth is that "Palace Walk" is a wonderful story'

"Seattle Times"

'A tale told with great affection, humor and sensitivity, in a style… that in this translation, is always accessible and elegant'

"New York Times" Book Review