TEHRAN – The Nilufar publishing house has published the second Persian edition of Egyptian novelist Bahaa Taher’s 2006 book “Sunset Oasis”.

Rahim Forughi is the translator of the winner of the first Arabic Booker Prize, which is a vivid compelling historical tale set in late nineteenth-century Egypt.

When Mahmoud, a disgraced Egyptian officer, is posted to the remote desert town of Siwa, his Irish wife insists on accompanying him, to pursue the secrets of Alexander the Great. 

Neither is prepared for the stultifying heat, the hostility of the townspeople, or the astonishing and disturbing events that befall them in the dreamlike other-worldliness of the Sunset Oasis.

In turns mesmerizing and shocking, “Sunset Oasis” is an enthralling story of mystery and frustrated passions set against the backdrop of an exotic locale in the late 1800s.

A widely read novelist in the Arab world, Taher has received honors and awards in Egypt and abroad, including the prestigious Italian Giuseppe Acerbi prize and, in 2008, the Booker Prize Foundation’s first International Prize for Arabic Fiction for “Sunset Oasis”.

He holds postgraduate diplomas in history and mass media from Cairo University. He has published 17 books – six novels, five short story collections and six non-fiction works – as well as numerous translations from English and French.

Photo: Front cover of the Persian edition of Bahaa Taher’s novel “Sunset Oasis”.

MMS/YAW