This book contains five short stories with contrasting flavors: victory and defeat, hope and frustration, determination and despair. The protagonists of these five stories stumble through contradictory psychological and human states and atmospheres; we see them victorious yet defeated, joyful yet miserable at the same moment. Yet, they were and still are alive, living a harsh life like walking on a tightrope over a deep abyss, or walking barefoot on shattered glass. We must learn, live, face, and endure what we encounter in the journey of life. We neither surrender to defeats nor boast of victories. We will confront all contradictions, situations, feelings, and challenges simultaneously, live them, and deal with them. But how do we emerge from all this? How do we live before and after? These are difficult questions that the five stories try to find answers to, though perhaps they never will…

_ Amira Bahy El-Din