One of Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz's more unusual works, Mirrors was first published in serial form in an Egyptian magazine. It consists of vignettes of characters from the life of a writer much like Mahfouz himself.
Accompanying each vignette is a portrait of the character by Alexandrian artist Seif Wanli, a friend of the author.
From the lofty heights of intellectual salons to the seamy squalor of brothels and drug dens, Mirrors also touches on the recent history of Egypt.
Wanli's penetrating portraits, omitted when the serialized version was published as a book, add a distinctive dimension to this intriguing book.
