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This highly original novel tells an alternative history in which the Arab Spring leads Egypt and the Middle East to the brink of nuclear war
“[A] wonderful ‘prophetic’ novel”—Jamal Khashoggi
In what might be his last night on Earth, the Egyptian president’s translator Ali pens a letter to his estranged son, telling him of everything that has led him, and his country, to breaking point.
Ali is traveling aboard a cargo ship on a dangerous mission to accompany twenty-four nuclear warheads from North Korea to Egypt, where they will be launched at the Israeli occupation of Sinai. But he has blown the whistle on the operation and now must face the consequences: will he be celebrated as a hero or condemned as a traitor?
Fishere’s powerful storytelling offers an alternative history to events post-revolution in Egypt, hinging on the rupture of the Arab Spring. Exit creates a compelling, and terrifying, vision of the Middle East, one that both teaches us about the present and warns of coming catastrophe.
“[A] wonderful ‘prophetic’ novel” —Jamal Khashoggi, Al-Arabiya English
“A rollercoaster of convincing scenarios, recognizable characters, a frightening future and a familiar past . . . anarchic and exhilarating”—Mada Masr
“One of the fascinating aspects of this book is that it was written in both an old-fashioned (Jurji Zaidan, Charles Dickens) and a contemporary (NaNoWriMo) way.”—ArabLit
“A literary tour de force.”— Le Journal Du Dimanche
“It evokes George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984.”—Al-Ahram
“An exceptional novel that brings together a broad, profound vision with outstanding artistic value.”—al-Dustour
“Exit is not merely a novel, but a new adventure in the world of storytelling.”—Al-Akhbar
“It is the first novel to knock on the doors of political imagination rather than political realism—an unexpected paradox.”—Masrahna
“What may be harder than making a revolution is writing a good novel about it. Ezzedine Fishere is among the few who have succeeded in that challenge.”—Egypt Independent
“Exit reads Egypt, for the first time, from a candid political perspective.”— al-Hayat
“One of the first, if not the first fictional work post-revolution, leaves behind the broken, devastated and hopeless fictional characters that for decades have pervaded Arabic literature.”—Cairo 360
“Powerful.”— Al-Ahram Weekly
Ezzedine C. Fishere is an Egyptian novelist, diplomat and academic. A distinguished fellow at Dartmouth College, his extensive diplomatic experience includes the Egyptian Foreign Service and the United Nations missions in the Middle East and East Africa. He has published ten novels in Arabic, two of which have been translated into English: Embrace on Brooklyn Bridge which was nominated for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (often referred to as “the Arabic Booker”) and The Egyptian Assassin which was adapted by Pan-Arab TV into a limited television series entitled, “Abou Omar El-Masry.” He lives in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Jonathan Smolin is a writer, translator, and academic. He is a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College and Director of the Dartmouth Initiative for Middle East Exchange (DIMEX). He is the author of The Politics of Melodrama and his translations from the Arabic include Whitefly by Abdelilah Hamdouchi, A Rare Blue Bird Flies with Me by Youssef Fadel, and I Do Not Sleep and A Nose and Three Eyes by Ihsan Abdel Kouddous. He lives in Hanover, New Hampshire.