“For the sake of this place where we now stand, we waged wars, wove conspiracies, distorted history and truth itself so our deeds would disappear, allowing us to return to the shadows from which we emerged and to which we belong… Nations rose and fell, kings reigned and were killed, entire lands were conquered and erased—all in pursuit of the ultimate secret, in search of the great answer… For this moment, and in anticipation of it, we began a journey lasting centuries—since the dawn of history, before Christ… since before everything. All of this was for the sake of the legend pursued by the True Believers’ organization since the beginning of time… the legend of the Sacred City, where the key to the universe and the greatest secrets of humanity are hidden.”

In one of the most complex and scientifically precise works of Arab science fiction, Mahmoud Allam, in his novel, delves into the deepest depths of the human psyche, the most intricate equations and theories of quantum mechanics, and neuroscience. He travels back through ancient history and into a distant future rooted in today’s world to explore, for the first time, a topic considered taboo in Arab literature, in his most ambitious work to date.

_  Mahmoud Allam