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The Days of the Shining Sun, an Arabic novel by Egyptian author Miral El Tahawy, endeavors to answer the question: Will traveling to a new land add more meaning to life? In her second novel tackling the issue of immigration, El Tahawy extends that the land that immigrants claim as a space to achieve one’s dreams is actually a grave they are buried into. The novel opens with a shocking event, the suicide of Gamal, who lived in this new land while suffering from an identity crisis. Thus, the novel shares the reality that immigrants face — that they are not escaping the harsh reality of their own countries. The novel is set in a fictional city called The Shining Sun on the western borders of the US, which is a hotbed for illegal immigrants. We meet Ne’am, and her friends Nagwa and Fatima. As the novel unfolds we observe tragedy, as an unnamed construction worker brings a gun to his son’s school to obligate everyone to listen to what he has to say. The illegal immigrants also find themselves coveted for their openness to take on often high-risk jobs because of their illegal status, a situation that impacts how society views them. Nevertheless, the novel ends as it began — a death by suicide. This time, it is Mimi, an African woman who escapes genocide in her own nation to ironically die in a strange land. In turn, the novel rules out the common myths surrounding immigration as a pleasant experience and makes us face the harsh reality of a life that can implode at any moment. The novel was short-listed for the International Prize for the Arabic Novel (also known as the Arabic Booker) in 2023. You can get your hands on a copy from Diwan Bookstores or the Abgad app.

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