âPoignant . . . deeply personal . . . an indelible history of the largely forgotten Jews of Egypt . . . ââMiami Herald
In vivid and graceful prose, Lucette Lagnado re-creates the majesty and cosmopolitan glamour of Cairo in the years before Gamal Abdel Nasserâs rise to power. With Nasserâs nationalization of Egyptian industry, her father, Leon, a boulevardier who conducted business in his white sharkskin suit, loses everything, and departs with the family for any land that will take them. The poverty and hardships they encounter in their flight from Cairo to Paris to New York are strikingly juxtaposed against the beauty and comforts of the lives they left behind.
An inversion of the American dream set against the stunning portraits of three world cities, Lucette Lagnadoâs memoir offers a grand and sweeping story of faith, tradition, tragedy, and triumph.