Autumn Quail

The story opens on Black Saturday. The main character, Isa, is a government employee and a member of the Wafd party. After being close to getting promoted to a much higher position and marrying ((Salwa)), the daughter of a Pasha, the revolution uprises and changes his life; he gets fired and his engagement gets broken off, leaving him crippled. He goes to Alexandria where he meets the prostitute ((Riri)), who lives with him before he kicks her out upon finding out that she is pregnant. Then, he marries a rich infertile divorcee. Throughout the novel, he suffers from boredom and depression, and he finds solace in gambling. After a while, he runs into ((Riri)) and with her a young girl, his daughter. In the end, he sits in the dark next to Saad Zaghloul’s statue before a strong young man holding a flower comes to talk to him and leaves. Isa follows the footsteps of the young man leaving behind him his loneliness and darkness.