"Melding the lyricism and cerebral style of literary fiction with the page-turning pull of a political thriller, and the emotional intrigue of a family saga."
Ehab Elgammal’s The Gales of Alexandria is a complex, accomplished work that explores the intersection of global politics with personal convictions, conflicts and family legacies. And all this is powerfully framed by its Alexandria setting, and meteorological forces that have powerful metaphoric sway. That is to say, as an important port since ancient times, Alexandria has long been a place of cultural convergence, with its seasonal gales shifting landscapes, and engendering change.
Told through multiple perspectives, the story’s stage is 2014, though the web it weaves shifts back to vital past events that converge in the present, much like the fluctuating gales that provide the story’s metaphoric backdrop, and shape its structure.
As for the story, at its heart is Nasser, a young man who’s long been missing, and who’s believed to have terrorist ties. When Nasser’s body is found, a CIA agent pressures Nasser’s father, history professor Omar El-Mohammedi, to analyse his son’s journal, believing it might be vital in preventing a terror attack. The truths Omar discovers are complex, unexpected, and related to a family secret. At the same time, Nassar’s actions, and his life and death, have a remarkable butterfly-effect impact on his family and friends, and the CIA agent.
Through the varied cast of characters, and their very different relationships to Nasser, in The Gales of Alexandria Elgammal explores themes of the weight of family legacies, how personal convictions are formed, and complex roads to self-discovery. It’s a nuanced, multi-layered work that should satisfy fans of political thrillers and evocative literary fiction alike.
Joanne Owen, A LoveReading Ambassador
| Primary Genre | Literary Fiction |
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A reflective, emotionally resonant multi-narrative novel exploring ideology, loss, grief, and reconciliation across years and continents.
A race to decipher a journal and discover the location of a terror attack takes us through the grief, guilt and reckoning of family and friends. Set against the turbulent backdrop of 9/11, the following wars and the Arab spring we watch as history professor Omar reads his son’s journal, delivered to him with his missing son’s body and an urgent request from the CIA for him to decode it. We step back in time to see what caused Nassar to be estranged from his family and friends as seeing how all their lives played out in the interim years. Navigating these historic events we explore ideology, culture, relationships, guilt and grief.
The Gales of Alexandria is a complex literary novel.... Read Full Review
