The Mexican Wife

Author: Eman Yehia

This novel not only tells the untold story of the relationship and marriage between a prominent Egyptian writer and a Mexican girl, the famous daughter of Diego Rivera, one of the most important muralists of the twentieth century, but it also recounts the early 1950s in Egypt and the world, with all its conflicts, events, and impacts. The novel moves between Cairo, Vienna, and Mexico, showing us a time, places, and a way of life that no longer exist in our contemporary lives. The author chooses to use characters from the famous novel "The White One" published by Youssef Idris in the late 1950s, bringing them back to life but in events that blend reality and imagination, surprising us with the presence of real names of Egyptian, Arab, and international politicians and artists. Perhaps the greatest discovery is the love story and marriage of "Yahia Mostafa Taha," the name Youssef Idris chose for himself in "The White One." The story of "Yahia and Ruth" emanates through their voices on the pages of the novel. A conflict between two different cultures, two legitimate ambitions, and two sides of emotions. Love, jealousy, ambition, and art. Anxious political atmospheres in Egypt, and a tragedy that ravages Ruth's family in Mexico. All this within the framework of 1953 and 1954 and their atmospheres: the conflict between democracy and dictatorship, the choice between freedom of the press and the confiscation of opposing opinions, and the confusion of intellectuals divided between support and opposition. It is truly a novel about the revolution and the future of the world that was.