Í 1934 bygdi ein múgvandi armeni, Yacoubian, eina stóra lon miðskeiðis í Kairo. Henda lonin, sum enn stendur, er karmur um skaldsøguna og samstundis ein mynd av egyptiska samfelagnum.

Har býr og starvast ein litrík fjøld av ymiskum fólki, teirra millum kenslusári konufólkarevurin Zaki Bey, samkyndi blaðstjórin Hatim Rashid og unnusti hansara, framherjandi Hagg Azzam við síni loynikonu, Taha el Shasli, gløggi sonur fátæka duravørðin, sum gerst víðgongdur, Busayna, handilsgentan, ið má tola handilsstjóran, sum er nærgang­andi ímóti henni, tí hon skal breyðføða trý yngri systkin.

Her er kynslív, átrúnaður, politikkur og pengar, men fyrst av øllum vald og máttloysi.

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In 1934, an affluent Armenian, Yacoubian, constructed a large building in downtown Cairo. The building, which still stands, serves both as location in which this story unfolds as well as a metaphor for Egyptian society.

A diverse group of people live and work in the building, including the passionate womaniser, Zaki Bey, the homosexual newspaper editor, Hatim Rashid and his boyfriend, the brazen Hagg Azzam with his mistress, the building’s poor doorman’s bright son, Taha el Shasli, who turns radical, and the shop assistant, Busayna, who must endure her employer’s expectations of sexual favours in return for the additional money she needs to provide for her three younger siblings.

It is a story rife with sex, religion, politics, and money, but most of all of power and helplessness.