Lyrics Alley

Set in Sudan in the 1950s, Lyrics Alley tells the story of the wealthy and powerful Abuzeid dynasty. One day their world is turned upside down when Nur, the heir to the family’s business, has an almost fatal accident. Nur’s dreams of university and success are shattered in an instant. A second blow comes when his betrothed, his cousin Soraya, breaks off their engagement.

Against the backdrop of a Sudan in transition from British rule to independence, the accident shakes the Abuzied family to the core and causes them to question their values. Both Nur and Soraya are forced to reassess their purpose in life. Nur’s father Mahmoud Bey, has two wives, Waheeba and Nabilah who perhaps most aptly represent the conflict between tradition and modernity inherent in the period: While Waheeba lives by Sudanese traditions and resents Nabilah’s modernist tendencies, Nabilah wants to journey to her native Egypt and leave behind what she sees as the backwardness which plagues Sudanese society.

At a time when women were meant to be seen but not heard and men were taught to believe certain ideals, Aboulela’s narration helps give all of her characters a voice of their own. Ultimately, she also succeeds in not overdramatizing or aggrandising her characters’ plights, something which would be all too easy to do in this type of novel. Instead, with great eloquence and compassion, she draws the reader into the narrative and effectively evokes the challenges and trials and tribulations of this period.