Rhadopis of Nubia by Naguib MahfouzMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Peace needs men of sterner mettle than men of war."
This second novel of the Naguib Mahfouz Ancient Egypt anthology tells the tale of the great passion of Rhadopis the courtesan and Merenra, "the frivolous pharoah."
What do you get when a Nobel laureate writes a romance? Passages so sensual, and not just about the lovers. But the descriptions of the Nile, of the people and the sounds... It's like having a moving painting in your mind.
It's Cinderella mixed with Antony and Cleopatra. Part fairy-tale, part epic. 100% sheer, majestic triumph.
Moral lesson? Duty must come before desire. Rhadopis is up there with Helen and other beautiful women of literature whose beauty brings about the fall of a ruler, and by extension, an empire.
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