The Newborn

Author: Nadia Kamel

Born to an Egyptian Jewish father and an Italian Christian mother, who met in Egypt in the 1920s, married, and lived there. She was born and lived in Cairo, joined the communist movement and underground work, was imprisoned, fell in love with and married an Egyptian journalist and activist, worked as a journalist advocating for women's issues, and during this time supported her husband – especially when he was persecuted by the authorities and isolated – and became a mother, raising her two daughters and then her grandson. However, the life and personality of Naila Kamel, born Marie Eli Rosenthal, defy any simplistic classification offered by these abbreviated milestones. In this fascinating book, we are transported to another Egypt that no longer exists, with its conditions and people, and we return with Marie to years of imprisonment, comrades in struggle, difficult choices, and trying situations. We discover how she raised her two daughters, Nadia and Dina, and how she navigated her relationships with her mother's, father's, husband's families, and her two grandchildren amidst an atmosphere of discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, and gender. An exceptional book about the unique life of an inspiring Egyptian woman.