Review #716: The Last Watchman of Old Cairo by Michael David Lukas

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“The heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature.”

----Antoine François Prévost

Michael David Lukas, an American bestselling author, has penned a compelling historical fiction called, The Last Watchman of Old Cairo that revolves around an American part-Jewish-part-Muslim student exploring the roots of his father's side family in Cairo where his father's forefathers used to be the watchman of an ancient synagogue, protecting its secrets and faith with their courage and sacrifices. The author has spun this tale around three shifting timelines about a young Muslim boy, two twin sisters from Cambridge on a mission to Cairo and a young American student picking the clues his father left for him after his death.


Synopsis:

In this spellbinding novel, a young man journeys from California to Cairo to unravel centuries-old family secrets.

Joseph, a literature student at Berkeley, is the son of a Jewish mother and a Muslim father. One day, a mysterious package arrives on his doorstep, pulling him into a mesmerizing adventure to uncover the tangled history that binds the two sides of his family. For generations, the men of the al-Raqb family have served as watchmen of the storied Ibn Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo, built at the site where the infant Moses was taken from the Nile. Joseph learns of his ancestor Ali, a Muslim orphan who nearly a thousand years earlier was entrusted as the first watchman of the synagogue and became enchanted by its legendary--perhaps magical--Ezra Scroll. The story of Joseph's family is entwined with that of the British twin sisters Agnes and Margaret, who in 1897 depart their hallowed Cambridge halls on a mission to rescue sacred texts that have begun to disappear from the synagogue.

The Last Watchman of Old Cairo is a moving page-turner of a novel from acclaimed storyteller Michael David Lukas. This tightly woven multigenerational tale illuminates the tensions that have torn communities apart and the unlikely forces--potent magic, forbidden love--that boldly attempt to bridge that divide.


Joseph al-Raqb, a Berkeley grad student, decides to take a long trip to his father's hometown, Cairo, to unravel the clues and the pieces of fragments of a supposedly important and an ancient document left by his father after his death. Born to a Jewish mother and a Muslim Egyptian father, who never married, Joseph has forever suffered with identity crisis and has silently blamed his father for all his pain. On his journey to Cairo, he learn's about his father's family's 100 year old history of serving as the watchman to Cairo's ancient Ibn Ezra Synagogue, protecting its secrets and many treasured documents that once upon a time held a significant importance to the existence of Jews in Egypt. But the mystery lies in the missing sacred scroll of Ezra, that was removed by the a Rabbi along with the help of two Cambridge antiquarians sisters who were on a mission to save and preserve the documents from losing its essence tucked away in a dirty attic of that synagogue. And how are the characters related to one another and what is the importance of that fragment left by Joseph's father, all these questions lie hidden deep within the story. So grab a copy of this book now to know more.

The author has brought alive the history of Cairo through this story and the readers can visually imagine the descriptions of the old Cairo is a striking manner. The vividly described city of Nile where once Muslims and Jews lived under harmony and peace is not only picturesque but has an essence that will intrigue the readers to turn the pages of this book to lose themselves in the beauty of this captivating tale. The author has done his research well as he not only resurrected some real life characters and scenarios from the pages of history but also gave his readers hope about a city with united front between two religions and how they protected the soul of Cairo. Although, what I felt disappointed about is the life of a watchman that author hasn't shed much light on the struggles faced by one. Moreover, I felt a disconnected with that profession, and felt like most of the limelight was on the Ezra scroll.

The author's writing style is absolutely articulate, laced perfectly with evocative emotions that will move the readers deeply. The dialogues are engaging enough to keep the readers glued to the book. Also the pacing is fast enough, with a tightly packed plot with suspense and clawing drama making sure to keep the readers curious about the synagogue and the contents within it. There is a sweet love story amidst of the history of Jews and the synagogue in Cairo, I wish the author could have explored more in that line.

The characters are well developed with flaws and strong and impressionable personality. The main character, Joseph is believable and very realistic in the eyes of the readers with his doubts and issues gnawing at him constantly arising from identity crisis to the clues of existence of Ezra scroll to the synagogue to his father's absence from his life. The rest of the supporting characters are also nicely sketched out from raw giving them meaning and importance in the eyes of the readers.

In a nutshell, this story about a synagogue that connects the family of Joseph through centuries is an absolutely absorbing one, laced with subtle amount of mystery, enough history behind the idyllic landscape of Cairo through three different timelines, each having its own essence.


Verdict: A must read for all historical fiction lovers.

Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Penguin Random House for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Michael David Lukas has been a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey, a late-shift proofreader in Tel Aviv, and a Rotary Scholar in Tunisia. A graduate of Brown University and the University of Maryland, his writing has been published in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Slate, National Geographic Traveler, and the Georgia Review. He has received scholarships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and the Elizabeth George Foundation. When he isn’t writing, he teaches creative writing to third and fourth graders.
Visit him here



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