Thursday, January 9, 2014

Book: Cairo Unzipped by Mona Fuad

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Book: Cairo Unzipped by Mona Fuad

9780578110394-Perfect.inddIt’s the 1940’s and the desert sun is setting in Cairo. This is the scene of Layla’s story. A beautiful, young girl forced into prostitution at age 12 by her own mother, Layla dreams of freedom in Europe. While set more than 70 years ago, Layla’s dream is not far from that of those living in today’s modern-day, protest-laden Egypt.
Layla’s story is the focus of Mona Fuad’s fascinating new book, Cairo Unzipped. A friend of Layla’s and former Egyptian movie star, Fuad chronicles Layla’s meteoric rise during a revolutionary period of Egyptian history.
Due to the turmoil in Europe, Egypt became a melting pot of Europeans from nations, being put to the fire, by the Nazis. Layla, with no money and fewer options, would not only survive the life of a call girl during this tumultuous time, but also rise to become the mistress of the most powerful man in Egypt, King Farouk.
While focused primarily on Layla’s story of strength and overcoming adversity, Cairo Unzipped also shares a bit of Fuad’s life.
Very much the opposite of Layla’s troubled youth, Fuad, born in Alexandria, was a once crowned Miss Egypt and could be found in many Egyptian and American films, including The Ten Commandments.
Upon leaving show business and moving to America with her husband, Fuad founded the first acrylic nail salon in Dallas and helped define the landscape of the now over $35 billion nail industry.
FuadauthorIn a powerful and interesting feature interview, Fuad’s book addresses: the drastic differences between Layla and Mona’s upbringings in Egyptian society; prostitution in Egypt — then and now; life during the Arabic Revolution; behind the royal curtain: a look at the life and luxury of King Farouk; and, the Egyptian-American Dream, Mona’s story of success in the U.S.
Mona Fuad was born in Alexandria, Egypt and, at age 16, won a national beauty contest and would go on to become a future Miss Egypt. Her career then turned to film as Mona appeared in both Egyptian and American films, including The Ten Commandments and The Spy. After moving to the U.S. with her husband, Mona, who speaks six languages, founded the first acrylic nail salon in Dallas and helped define the landscape of the now over $35 billion nail industry.
Mona and Layla, the focus of her new book Cairo Unzipped, have been lifelong friends, although their roads to success have been vastly different. They still remain friends, now in the U.S., today.
For more information, please visit www.cairounzipped.com.
Cairo Unzipped is available on AmazonBarnesandNoble.com and www.cairounzipped.com.
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Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Book Review: The Secret of Rose-Anne Riley by Shaw J. Dallal

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Book Review: The Secret of Rose-Anne Riley by Shaw J. Dallal

By A. Clare Brandabur

Professor EmeritusEnglish Department, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
TheSecretofRose-AnneRiley1-7-2014_edited-2This is the second novel by the author of, an important narrative of the Palestinian diaspora, Scattered Like Seeds. Shaw J. Dallal’s The Secret of Rose-Anne Riley is an altogether different type of novel, but like its predecessor, one that will appeal to a wide spectrum of interests. This novel is a fictional account of four generations of a melting-pot Irish American immigrant family whose first and second generations settled in various locations across the frontier and who started out working primarily as farmers in places as diverse as Illinois, Texas, and upstate-New York, though they rise to academic and business positions through hardwork and study.
The most intriguing and unusual feature of this story is the degree to which the memories and tragic personal history of a beloved grandmother, come to haunt –perhaps possess would be a better word–the consciousness of her grand-daughter Alexia. While her mother Carla pursues a career, Alexia and her twin brother John find themselves more and more in the care of their elderly grandmother, the Rose-Anne Rilley of the book’s title. Rose-Anne is the gentle Grandmother whose violent rape, covered up and papered over, continues to fester like a corrosive wound, finally emerging to darken the life of a beautiful girl in the family’s third generation . Her benevolent care endears her to both children, the twins Johnny and Alexia. Both children love Rose-Anne, but it is Alexia who becomes increasingly her confidante and companion during her final illness.