When Suleiman was ten years old

Author's name: Amira Bahey El Din

Why don't we live simply? A seemingly simple question that the heroes of the four novels in this book ask themselves and us, and they find no answer for it, nor do we find one in them... Why don't we love and be loved and live in bliss and joy that doesn't deserve a story or a novel to be written about?! Why don't the days pass easily, beginning and ending without hurting us, shedding our blood, blaming us, oppressing us, or devastating us? We spend them and live them as we like, ending them and they ending with us in peace and tranquility?! Who threw what was in the eye of the hurricane while it whirls with all its utmost brutality and violence?! And what does it expect from us?! And why is all this while life is easier and simpler? Is life simpler and easier than Ismail? What happened to you, Naji? What have you longed for, Suleiman, after all you've lived through? How did you gain the strength to face what you faced, Akram? The four novels tried to answer many questions based on the feelings, sorrows, tears, anger, strength, and fragility of their heroes, who were all determined to find an answer to the urgent question that haunted them: Why don't we live simply?!