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.

`Haunting and often mesmerising...a powerful and moving expose of the horrors that women and children can be exposed to by the tenets of faith. It ought to reach a wider audience.' Philip Womack, New Humanist; `A feminist fantasy narrative that disturbs its readers not only because it painfully reminds them of the brutal oppression of women, but also because it undermines a complex of constructions that feminists for almost two decades now have been announcing as "masculinist."' The International Fiction Review; `New favourite book...Nawal taught me how to love women and see them as strong. I do not know why it took a book to do that for me.' Lisa Grab Review;'At a time when nobody else was talking, [El Saadawi] spoke the unspeakable.' Margaret Atwood; 'The leading spokeswoman on the status of women in the Arab world' The Guardian; '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