Midnight Tales: A Woman's Journey Through the Middle East

"In actual fact, the only thing that matters in life is love, yet the inquisitive mind must be fed a few facts... Look at Baghdad!" commands Rosina-Fawzia al-Rawi's lively and imperious aunt Fatima, one of the characters in this delightful collection of personal essays. Aunt Fatima would have approved of this book, for as her niece turns her eye first on Baghdad and then all the lands of the Middle East, ending with her research into women's customs in the Emirates, she devotes herself as a lover does to all the intimate details around her. Whether she recounts a trip to buy a rug, a childhood incident on a Lebanese playground, or explicates Arab poetry, al-Rawi's collection is full of all that Aunt Fatima recommends-her beloved poetry, the ever-present history of these ancient lands, tender and intricate accounts of daily life, and quirky, nuanced tracings of the workings of the human heart.