Women & Society — The Book Roads

God Dies by the Nile and Other Novels

Nawal El Saadawi

What lies beneath the traditions, laws, and social expectations that have shaped women’s lives for generations? In The Hidden Face of Eve, Egyptian writer, physician, and feminist Nawal El Saadawi examines the realities of women’s lives across the Arab world, drawing on her medical work in rural Egypt and her experiences as a women’s rights activist. She confronts subjects often pushed into silence, including female genital mutilation, sexual violence, honour killings, reproductive rights, and legal inequality. Moving between personal testimony, historical analysis, religion, and cultural criticism, El Saadawi challenges the social structures used to justify women’s oppression. She also explores the historical contributions of Arab women and the struggles of those who have resisted restrictive gender roles. Passionate and uncompromising, this influential work asks readers to question the boundaries between tradition, faith, and patriarchal power. First published in Arabic in 1977, The Hidden Face of Eve remains a landmark of Arab feminist writing and a powerful call for women’s freedom and equality.

Egypt 1977