Considered by many to be Mahfouz's best novel, Midaq Alley centers around the residents of one of the hustling, teeming back alleys of Cairo. Also includes two of his other novels: Miramar, a tale of intersecting lives that provides us with a portrait of life in Egypt in the late 1960's; and The Thief and the Dogs, which depicts the fate of a Marxist thief, who has been released from prison and plans revenge.