Love Under the Rain Clouds — Naguib Mahfouz

Love under the Rain Clouds is one of the minor works of Egypt's renowned writer Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006). It was written in 1973, immediately after the Six Day War. That brief but disastrous conflict marked the lowest point in modern Egyptian history and threw the nation into a state of shock, humiliation and self-doubt. Set against the background of the war, this novel captures the mood in Egypt at that moment in time and examines the problems of loyalty and patriotism from various angles. A web of love affairs and intrigues binds together the various characters in the story, which develops rapidly and reaches its climax is an unexpected murder. At the centre of the tale stands the complex figure of Hosni Hegazi, an urbane and cultured man with deplorable habits and no morality.