This book contains three novels by Nawal El Saadawi – “God Dies by the Nile”, “Searching”, and “The Circling Song”. The writing in each is riveting with moments of beauty, moments too horrifying to imagine, disturbing dreams, and lives of despair. She struggles with the incongruity of religion and its treatment of women. She gets inside the minds of Arab women who struggle for meaning in their lives and fight oppression daily.

Her books were banned in Egypt; she was imprisoned for speaking out against the government; and she later ran for office but had to withdraw under pressure.

The vivid, sensitive descriptions place you in their world – the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes. You feel the frustration when the characters are dealing with the corrupt government officials. The stories demonstrate how corruption and misuse of religion are able to oppress the poor. These are not pleasant stories but many women live these lives. ( )