Maktoub (25/ii/2012‪)‬

Maktoub describes the events and political
upheavals that changed the Middle East
from the demise of the Ottoman Empire to
the eventual death of Colonel Nasser.
These events are seen through the eyes of
Peter Angelakis, an Ottoman Greek who left
Constantinople for a more secure existence in
British controlled Egypt.
In Alexandria, Peter marries into a Lebanese
family and the history of that period with all
its upheavals unfolds through the lives of his
four children.
The second world War provided Peters eldest
daughter who is married to a British Officer,
offers a peek into English reactions to Egyptian
Nationalism. It also acted as a catalyst to the
free Officers movement resulted in King
Farouks abdication.
Peters second daughter Alexandra, marries
a Greek businessman who escaped from
communist Romania, and throws light into
the socialist nationalisations that eventually
wrecked the Egyptian economy.
Peters two sons with his father-in-law are
immersed in the Egyptian interior and provides
a picture of life at the time that included
acquiring business contacts; the reasons and
results of the burning of Cairo; the Suez attack
and the disastrous six day war of 1967 until
the death of Nasser in 1970.
All the events, once they had occurred, the
muslim population stoically accepted them.
To them it was MAKTOUB (it is written).