Birds Of Passage - Tapa blanda

The tarboosh, or fez, once as much part of the Egyptian landscape as the Sphinx, becomes for one family the symbol of their love affair with Egypt.

The Batrakanis are Greek Catholic, French-speaking Syrians, living in a Muslim Cairo run by the British. For family patriarch, George Batrakani, manufacturing the tarboosh is the means to achieving the wealth necessary for the luxury he craves. For the four energetic generations that follow, it is their bedrock through intrigue, love and ruin. But in 1952 the Egyptians take the reins of power for the first time since the Pharaohs. The tarboosh becomes an anathema and the Batrakanis, ever birds of passage buffeted on the winds of history, must move to a new exile.

Robert Sole was born in Cairo in 1946. He moved to France at the age of 18. He has combined his career as a journalist with that of author, and works for Le Monde.