What I Know About You
ABOUT
THE BOOK
A heartbreaking tale of a family and an impossible love, torn apart by secrets and traditions in late-twentieth-century Cairo.
Original title in French Ce que je sais de toi, published by Alto (2023)
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Pablo
Strauss
Pablo Strauss’s recent translations of fiction from Quebec include The Second Substance, Aquariums, Fauna, and The Dishwasher. He is a three-time finalist for the Governor General’s
Literary Award for translation. Pablo grew up in Victoria, BC, and has lived in Quebec City for two decades.
Pablo Strauss’s recent translations of fiction from Quebec include The Second Substance, Aquariums, Fauna, and The Dishwasher. He is a three-time finalist for the Governor General’s
Literary Award for translation. Pablo grew up in Victoria, BC, and has lived in Quebec City for two decades.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
This multi-awarded book (Prix France-Québec 2024, Prix Première Plume 2023, Bourse de la découverte de la Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco 2023, Prix Femina des lycéens 2023) travels in the sensibility of a man from the 1960’s to now, from Cairo to Montréal. The main character is teared apart between his feelings for another man and the cohesion of his family, until many times later this first attraction comes back. This book has the capacity to describe the sufferings of this tearings, the weight of absence and what lies around. It tells with delicacy fragile worlds, the spaces of ruins and humiliation, as hopes of repair. (Bibliothèque de Québec)
What I Know About You is a quietly powerful and lyrically told story of love and longing set in Cairo’s Levantine community against the backdrop of Egypt’s tumultuous 20th century history. Tarek is a young, married doctor who falls deeply in love with a young man he meets through his work in a very poor community. That relationship has a seismic effect on everyone around Tarek. The story is first told in the second person with spellbinding effect. Through the unique voice of an unknown narrator, the book explores not only forbidden love, but also the complexities of obligation and expectation in family relationships. The significance of this unusual structure will become meaningful later when the novel shifts gears to become as compelling as a thriller, driving to a perfect, beautiful end. (Toronto Public Library)