.. This novel captivates you from its very first chapters. El-Ashmawy excelled in describing that period, successfully building its world with historical foundations and imaginative capabilities that add to its historical dimension. He surpassed in portraying characters, the geography of places, and breathing life into the conspiracies that were unfolding at the time, whether from the remnants of the Mamluks, the consuls of Western nations in Egypt, Muhammad Ali and his men, or the Ottoman governor and his followers against all Egyptians, Copts and Muslims alike. It's as if you see it before you with the same costumes and behaviors of that era. He was aided in this by the fast pace with which he narrated the events, the characters he strived to make controversial, and the research effort that enabled him to describe battles and life in that era with distinction... Novelist / Makawi Said