After an assassination attempt in his twilight years, Naguib Mahfouz became a recluse, going out rarely and receiving visitors in his hotel. Cautious and in ill-health, he could only roam the city freely in his dreams.

In this mix of vivid vignettes linked together by the author's precisely rendered nightly wanderings through Cairo, figures from Mahfouz's personal life blend with his anxieties about Egypt's political past and future. Each dream is layered with philosophical musings, hopes and desperations, fidelities and disappointments. Over the course of the book they build to a lush and complex picture of Mahfouz' subconscious.