World Book Club: Alaa Al Aswany

Harriett Gilbert talks to acclaimed Egyptian writer Alaa Al-Aswany about his bestselling novel The Yacoubian Building.

It was the Arab world’s number-one bestseller for five years running after it was published in 2002.

The Yacoubian Building interweaves the stories of a group of diverse characters who live and work in downtown Cairo.

A moving study of politics and power, sex and revenge - centred on the apartment building - the Yacoubian building, which still stands in Cairo today.

The novel offers a compelling yet daringly scathing portrayal of modern Egypt since the Revolution of 1952.