India, Aug. 14 -- Award-winning author Reem Bassiouney deftly explores Egyptian identity and the country's historical and cultural ties with its ancient neighbours in this novel, an epic multigenerational tale of power, love and revenge.

The focus here is on the Tulunid dynasty of 9th to 10th century Egypt. Unlike two of Bassiouney's previous works of historical fiction, Sons of the People (2021) and Fountain of the Drowning (2021), Al Qata'i is rife with conflicts on both a local and a broader regional level.

In the novel's three stories, caliphs, governors, army commanders, tax administrators, judges and religious scholars hold centre stage as tensions between the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad and the government of Egypt and its people...