LYRICS ALLEY

310pp., paperback, London, (2010) 2012

A novel set in Sudan at the time of independence, about an affluent Sudanese family shaken by the changes taking place in their country and by a family tragedy that threatens the legacy they've built.

Winner of the Scottish Book Award for Fiction.

“An assured and highly readable portrait of a family in flux and two societies—Sudan and Egypt—on the cusp of momentous changes... Lyrics Alley is an evocative description of the struggle between tradition and modernization.” New Internationalist

“Aboulela’s skill is in teasing out nuance in different contexts, while making the reader care about her characters as individuals ... The author succeeds in creating characters which convince us; they are as imperfect, unpredictable and endearing as real life.” James Copnall, Times Literary Supplement

Leila Aboulela was born in Cairo, grew up in Khartoum and in her mid-twenties moved to Aberdeen. She is the author of the novels, Bird Summons, The Translator, The Kindness of Enemies and Minaret. Her short story collection, Elsewhere, Home, won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award. Currently she lives in Qatar.