The story of the woman who fell into the hole

Author's name: Inas Halim

They tell tales of Prophet Daniel Street, of the legend of the earth splitting open and swallowing beautiful girls at high noon, of a shoe seller lost with his wares inside the cellar of his shop, and of a donkey's legs that once sank into a cemetery well. They tell of a lost tomb of a king who wanted to reach the ends of the world, and the end of the sea... A seer prophesied that the city where his body would be buried would never be conquered, and that it would know happiness forever.

Beginning with a mystery that has preoccupied the city of Alexandria for years—the mystery of the sinkhole that suddenly opened up in Nabi Daniel Street and swallowed a young woman arm-in-arm with her fiancé, who then vanished without a trace—the novel's protagonist embarks on a journey to uncover the truth behind this enigma and the story of the girl whose history has been completely, or almost completely, erased. Parallel to this journey, during which the protagonist traces the forgotten girl's footsteps to write a novel, her obsession with investigation extends to reflections on the concepts of life, death, love, and existence, trapped within the circle of her mystery. From this preoccupation, she weaves her own story, stories about her family, and others concerning the city's inhabitants.