Disillusioned by the corruption of his homeland, Ibn Fattouma sets out on a quest to find Gebel, the land of perfection, from which no one has ever returned. On his way, the young man passes through a series of very different lands: realms where the moon is worshipped, where marriage does not exist, where kings are treated like gods, and where freedom, toleration, and justice are alternately held as the highest goods. All of these places, however, are inevitably marred by the specter of war, and in this 1983 novel by Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz, Fattouma finds himself continually driven onward, ever seeking.

"Mahfouz's pithy parable mocks the hypocrisy of nations that wage war and maintain empire in the name of brotherhood and freedom."—Publishers Weekly