The King's Debt

Rawan returns from a stint in Tunisia days before the bloodied corpse of her sister, Samra, is found in the desert. With Samra and Saleem's impending wedding plummeting into a tragic twist, Rawan vows to avenge her sister's untimely death with Saleem's assistance. Set by the shores of the Egyptian Red Sea, Samaa Ayman's gripping first novel explores, in luminous prose, the affected piety and false virtue underneath the fabric of a rigid, conservative society, and forces us to question the darkest crevices of our very own nature.

Rawan returns from a stint in Tunisia days before the bloodied corpse of her sister, Samra, is found in the desert. With Samra and Saleem's impending wedding plummeting into a tragic twist, Rawan vows to avenge her sister's untimely death with Saleem's assistance. Set by the shores of the Egyptian Red Sea, Samaa Ayman's gripping first novel explores, in luminous prose, the affected piety and false virtue underneath the fabric of a rigid, conservative society, and forces us to question the darkest crevices of our very own nature.

Samaa Ayman started writing just shy of her ninth birthday, when she produced a comic graphic novel as a gift. Since then, she has authored poetry anthologies in both Arabic and English and published multiple short stories. Having lived her childhood years across Glasgow, London and Manchester and her early adolescence in Cairo, Samaa decided to embark on her next adventure, residing by the shores of El-Gouna. She and her husband are now proud parents of their very own roman pharaoh. Her son Jasper is the inspiration behind her Instagram blog fusionloveofficial, where she stares her insights on mixed-race parenting. When she is not busy enjoying the joys and challenges of juggling her roles as a new mother, writer and teacher, Samaa loves messing up her kitchen to bake elaborate treats. As a storyteller, she hopes her creations can challenge stoic realities and bring people closer together.