Books like The last watchman of Old Cairo by Michael David Lukas

Joseph, a literature student at UC Berkeley, is the product of a Jewish mother and a Muslim father. One quiet morning a mysterious package arrives on his doorstep, setting him on a journey that takes him from California to the streets of Old Cairo. The story unravels the complex history of the al‑Raqb family, whose male members have served as watchmen for the ancient Ibn Ezra Synagogue—an establishment built on the site where infant Moses was reportedly taken from the Nile. Joseph learns that his great‑grandfather Ali, a Muslim orphan, became the first watchman a thousand years before and was captivated by the synagogue’s legendary, perhaps magical, Ezra Scroll. Through generations, Joseph’s family story intersects with that of two British twin sisters, Agnes and Margaret, who in 1897 left Cambridge to recover sacred texts disappearing from the synagogue. Michael David Lukas weaves a multigenerational narrative that explores the tensions pulling communities apart and the unlikely forces—mystic artifacts, forbidden love—that strive to heal them.

First publish date: 2018