The City of the Dead is a vast cemetery close to the centre of Cairo which has become a permanent home for thousands of migrants from the countryside. For many of the women, though still living in poverty, migration has brought a taste of freedom, as the exclusively female gatherings which form the setting for this book clearly show. The author has spent long periods inside this environment, where autobiographical and fictional story-telling is a routine pastime. She transcribes the stories and introduces the tellers and their society.