Al-Tahawy, Miral

The Tent

The Tent features a host of women characters whose lives are subject to the will of a single, often absent, patriarch and his brutal, foul-mouthed mother. Told through the eyes of a young girl, the lives of the Bedouin and peasant women unfold, revealing the tragedy of the sonless mother, the young girl’s relationship with her distant father, and a foreign woman who is well-meaning but ultimately motivated by self-interest.