The Man of All Silences

Why does a couple's relationship end? That is the first question the reader of this novel is prompted to ask. It is the story of a couple tearing itself apart discreetly, a couple transformed without knowing why. A couple tested by time and habits. A woman comfortably set in the routine of a life lived in tandem. A man who seeks to leave for no apparent reason. Another who frequents virtual women. A third man who hides behind the cabalistic, life-saving phrase justifying his departure: "Marie, I don't love you any more." War. Death. Their impact on a loving relationship.

This novel also takes up the notion that women often go through the same ennui, the same situation, the same emotions, and that men resemble each other regarding their attitudes, their silence and their relationships to women. For the heroine Tina, silence, as with indifference, kills by degrees. Ezza Agha Malak's magnificent novel about the love story between two mature people who share a lot but cannot live together any longer, will move its readers in depth and for a long time.