Synopsis "Memories of Alexandria: From a Void to Nothingness"
Set against the background of what was then the world's most cosmopolitan city this revised and expanded edition of "Memories of Alexandria" tells the story of a Spanish-Egyptian family from the years immediately after the Spanish Civil War to Egypt's decades of revolution, unrest and conflict between the late forties and the mid-sixties. The story line runs incessantly back and forth, embracing, like a lively journey, past and future, portraying historical accounts and colourful, three dimensional characters from all walks of life with a philosophical, cynical and cranky approach to the distressingly phoney values of man - and the uselessness of it all. It is also the story of the "uprooted", those Egyptian Khawagat (foreigners) who, after revolution and wars, were forced out of a country they thought was theirs by unforeseen and tragic circumstances. The writing is sincere, cynical, eccentric, ironic, candid, sexy, bold, crude and desperate. In a nutshell, "Memories of Alexandria" - From a void to nothingness - is a surrealistic, philosophical story of bygone times. Ricardo Wahby Tapia is now retired after forty years in business, mainly in the tourist industry. He lives in Madrid and Cabezón de la Sal (Cantabria).
