A young American student living in the Garden City district of Cairo has come to study Arabic and learns far more from the Egyptian women, young and old, she meets within the swirl and tumult of Garden City. Living, loving, and flourishing amid the fierce inflexibility of tradition, these women reveal a fascinating world of arranged marriages, secret romances, and the often turbulent bonds between four generations of Arab mothers and daughters. A deeply moving story of mothers and daughters, in the tradition of "The Joy Luck Club."