A judicial investigator tries to trace the clues of a series of crimes in a small village in Upper Egypt. The village is filled with suspicion, as the villagers mistrust each other, creating a tension that rises as the investigation progresses. A larger part of the novel touches on the notion of sectarian strife and how the Muslims and Copts in the villages of Egypt coexist with each other. In this novel, writer Ashraf al-Ashmawi immerses himself in complex souls, weaving his events into surprising new worlds, and funny and tragic paradoxes, through an attractive narrative rhythm that enriches thought and stirs the imagination, leaving a wide space of interpretation for the reader. Al-Ashmawi writes: “In the novel, we can tell that the roots of religious strife are buried deep down, waiting to explode at any moment.”