More Than Just a Biography of the Oboe Player

Arig Mohamed Aly  |  The AFAC Novel Writing Program  |  2015  |  Egypt
A young oboe player in her twenties lives in Egypt and witnesses the “Arab Spring” events. She lives through a moment widely labelled as decisive and historical, a moment which in fact led to nothing. The external events are the margin inside which the story happens, the story of the oboe player, the unfulfilled young girl who loved the sound of the oboe in her childhood but contracted pneumonia, which prevented her from playing the instrument. Arwa, a fulfilled Iraqi plastic artist in her forties who lives in Austria appears in the Egyptian oboe player’s life. They meet in Cairo, and a strong passionate bond happens between them. Together, they walk fine lines over the fire, as their relationship develops and becomes physical. They develop a new meaning of fulfillment in an area they have never known before, so they decide to run away together to Austria and never return