Basma Abdel Aziz

Here Is a Body: A Novel Basma Abdel Aziz

In this follow-up to her PEN Award-winning novel, The Queue, an electrifying new voice in Arab women's fiction passionately brings to life the machinations of state oppression

Mysterious men are rounding up street children and enrolling them in a so-called "rehabilitation program," designed to indoctrinate them for the military-backed regime's imminent crackdown on its opponents. Across town, thousands of protesters encamp in a city square demanding the return of the recently deposed president.

Reminiscent of recent clashes in Egypt and reflective of political movements worldwide where civilians face off against state power, Abdel Aziz deftly illustrates the universal human struggles between resisting and succumbing to an oppressive regime.

Here Is A Body is a courageous and powerful depiction of the state cooptation of human bodies, the dehumanization of marginalized groups, and the use of inflammatory religious rhetoric to manipulate a narrative.