As a young girl, Aisha’a mother takes her to get a tattoo of a cross so she can hide her in a convent, as protection against her abusive stepfather. But Aisha’s days in the convent are numbered because of a scandal that involves a nun and leaves Aisha homeless again. With the help of a friend from the convent, Aisha manages to find a job in an English Lord’s house but leaves that position and becomes a translator in a revolutionary newspaper when she begins to notice the clash between the Egyptians and the British. Eventually her stepfather manages to lure her back to their village and she falls victim to him until her wolves save her and she escapes. Impregnated by her stepfather and disgraced, she finds no other place of refuge but a brothel where she stays until an English painter, Carter, proposes that she joins him in his new expedition. While she is reluctant to follow a man she only coincidentally met 3 times, the story almost ends with Aisha and Carter together. Almost. Until the wolves appear again.
الذئاب تتحرك في اتجاهها، لا تخاف من شيء، ولا يوقفها شيء، تحيط بالبيت من كل ناحية، تتذكر النظرة القاسية التي رأتها على وجه أمها، تدرك أنه لا جدوى من الصراخ، ولا يوجد طريق للهرب.....
.....تقدم "توت" وسط عواء الذئاب، كانت تنتشر في كل مكان، تتقافز فوق التلال، أصبحت شديدة القرب منه، يراها بوضوح وتشم هي رائحته، وكان الحراس الاربعة يقفون بعيدا عنه، بالقرب من الشاطئ وهم يرتجفون، كان "توت" القديم يستيقظ من جديد، لا يحب ان يكون في هذه المدينة، ولا أن يعبد هذا الإله، يجب أن يقاوم "حورمحب"، يزيل النقوش التي أصبحت تحتل جدران مقبرته على رغمه، ويمحو صور هذه الآلهة التي يكرهها ولا يدعها تستولي على مصير حياته الثانية، تبعث أصوات الذئاب بنبضات حية، تمد جسده بطاقة إضافية، عليه أن يسترد مكانته، ويثبت للجميع أنه ليس خائنا، وليس محبا لآمون، ولا يدين بالفضل لـ "حورمحب"، سيعلن تمرده على كل شيء، لعله يسترجع رجولته الضائعة.
لمح ظل شبح يتحرك بالقرب من باب المقبرة، يختفي خلف إحدى الصخور، هل هو أحد الحراس أم لص مقابر، لم يعد خائفا، كان في هذه اللحظة يستطيع مواجهة الجميع، لن يجرؤ أحد على أن يمس فرعون مصر، ولكنه أحس بضربة هائلة ترتطم بمؤخرة رأسه، سمع صوت تهشم شيء ما، دارت الصخور، وابتعدت النجوم، وكان هناك ألم لا يمكن احتماله، ثم ساد الظلام فجأة...
It is through Carter that we hear the story of Akhnaton and Nefertiti and their adopted son Tut Ankh Amon whose tomb Carter is searching for, making this more than just a story of Aisha and Carter and their unrequited love to Mukhtar and Rosa. At times the story reads like a classic Egyptian black and white with the girl abused by her father, struggling for a living, finding herself impregnated and shamed into hiding from the man she loves. At others, it is an almost fantastic one of a young girl who is guarded by wolves, meeting a young British artist who has a similar connection to wolves, and who is fascinated by the story of Tut Ankh Amon, even more than his fascination with Aisha’s face.
The intertwining of all this makes this very long novel fun to read, though I’m not sure if it kept me at a single thread. I usually enjoy multiple narratives and open-ended stories but I feel that in this story it was a bit too disconnected even when the writer tried to connect the three stories (of Aisha, Carter, and Tut) through the sudden appearances of wolves in their lives, through their estrangement from their home, through their betrayals by the ones they love, and through their inability to find peace. This doesn’t make it any less inviting to read the novel, it’s just that, if you’re like me, and want novels to take you into their world and allow you to lose yourself in them, this one can’t do that because it’s a bit disjointed.
The intertwining of all this makes this very long novel fun to read, though I’m not sure if it kept me at a single thread. I usually enjoy multiple narratives and open-ended stories but I feel that in this story it was a bit too disconnected even when the writer tried to connect the three stories (of Aisha, Carter, and Tut) through the sudden appearances of wolves in their lives, through their estrangement from their home, through their betrayals by the ones they love, and through their inability to find peace. This doesn’t make it any less inviting to read the novel, it’s just that, if you’re like me, and want novels to take you into their world and allow you to lose yourself in them, this one can’t do that because it’s a bit disjointed.
