Bread on Uncle Milad's Table: A Novel

Summary

For fans of Naguib Mahfouz's classic Cairo Trilogy and Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men, a beautiful and thought-provoking novel set in early twenty-first century Libya—winner of the 2022 International Prize for Arabic Fiction—about a sensitive young man from a long line of bakers who tries to live up to his father's expectations.

“Don’t mix the yeast with the salt directly; they’re like men and women.”

When it comes time for Milad to learn the family trade of baking, his father makes sure to pass on his deep love for bread, and also impresses upon his only son what it means to be a man. But while the sensitive Milad quickly takes to baking, despite his best efforts (including a brief stint in the military) he fails to live up to his family's idea of being a man.

It's only after marrying his sweetheart, Zainab, that Milad finally decides to forget about being a man altogether and instead be himself. What results is a complete role reversal where Milad spends his days at home performing household duties that his society reserves for women, while his beloved becomes the family breadwinner. While the unconventional arrangement suits Milad, he unknowingly earns the community's scorn. When his cousin finally breaks the village's true opinion to Milad, a series of tragic events are set into motion.

Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, Mohammed Husayn Alnaas's explosive debut questions fixed ideas of gender and champions the individual in the face of conformity. Through the story of Milad and the masculinity imposed on him by his upbringing and society, Bread on Uncle Milad's Table captures the economic and social upheavals of contemporary Libya, particularly during the Gaddafi years.