When Egyptian novelist Miral el-Tahawi writes, she holds a magnifying glass up to life, because the materials she works with – taboos, childhood memories and agony – are difficult to collect. El-Tahawi's new book, Brooklyn Heights, reflects a new style in Arabic literature today by exposing human weaknesses like spousal betrayal and abuse, and feeling like a stranger among strangers in an alien society. The characters of Brooklyn Heights, led by the betrayed Hend, are both challenging and innovative because they mirror Miral's personal obsession with bearing witness to a cruel world full of miserable women coming from Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The novel is full of meticulously collected female characters, presented by el-Tahawi with their unusual life experiences in New York's famous neighbourhood. El-Tahawi, 42, created these complicated characters to illustrate how an Arab woman feels and lives against all odds in Western society. Brooklyn Heights is a brutally honest narrative that traces these women's battles with family, society, country, religion and abuse when they decide to live in the US. The novel details their lives from childhood to the consequences of their choice to leave their homelands and live in Brooklyn Heights, away from the patriarchal values that still hold sway in Middle Eastern and North African countries. The novel delves into taboo topics, primarily sexuality and religion, to uncover the Middle East. The characters of el-Tahawi's novel offer young readers a tool for understanding the Arab world because it describes different women, who were raised from an early age in authoritarian societies. In Brooklyn Heights, Hend, an Egyptian, describes how she was raised in a society where women have no place, and that was why she decided to escape with her daughter to start a new life and forge new links with different people. Brooklyn Heights portrays deep portraits of these ill-fated women, without damaging their dignity. It also reflects the social context in which el-Tahawi created them, providing a glimpse of life outside the Arab world. As usual, she is ahead of her time in exploring these women's lives.
