Love in the Kingdom of Oil

About the Book

A woman disappears without trace. Nobody, including the police commissioner investigating the case, can understand how a woman could simply walk away, leaving her husband and home behind. After all, in the Kingdom of Oil where His Majesty reigns supreme, no woman has ever dared disobey the command of men.

When the woman finally reappears, there is a blurring between the men in her life, as she leaves one to join another. She is trapped in a man-made web, unable to escape from a male figure who continually fills urns that she must carry.

Surreal and satirical, Love in the Kingdom of Oil is a startling reflection on the limits of female freedom in a patriarchal society.

About the Author

Nawal El Saadawi (1931–2021) was an internationally renowned feminist writer and activist from Egypt. She founded and became president of the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association and co-founded the Arab Association for Human Rights. Among her numerous roles in public office she served as Egypt’s National Director of Public Health and stood as a candidate in the 2004 Egyptian presidential elections. El Saadawi held honorary doctorates from the universities of York, Illinois at Chicago, St Andrews and Tromso, and her numerous awards include the Council of Europe North-South Prize, the Women of the Year Award (UK), Sean MacBride Peace Prize (Ireland), and the National Order of Merit (France). She wrote over fifty novels, short stories and non-fiction works which centre on the status of Arab women, which have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Reviews

‘The leading spokeswoman on the status of women in the Arab world’
Guardian

'At a time when nobody else was talking, [El Saadawi] spoke the unspeakable.'
Margaret Atwood, BBC Imagine

‘El Saadawi writes with directness and passion’
New York Times

‘A poignant and brave writer’
Marie Claire

‘El Saadawi has come to embody the trials of Arab feminism’
San Francisco Chronicle