Can one consider his/her life partner's eyes as a mirror that reflects their true
image? If not, what shall we do? We live in this novel the last three months of
a traditional marriage from the point of view of its heroes. In each chapter, a
mirror is broken for another to be made, so that hopefully we can see the image
more clearly.
This novel is about a married couple in a traditional marriage with 3 kids. Monera
is 40 years old; she is a stay-at-home mom who is good at cooking, which is
why she is overweight. At the beginning of the novel, she is shocked when her
husband, Magdy, tells her that he wants a divorce. When she pressed to know
the reason, she discovered that this is a precondition from his intended future
wife. She acts calmly and asks for a 3-month transitional time before finalizing
the divorce, for the sake of their children, and Magdy agrees.
Monera feels relatively free to do whatever she wants, so she went to have
breakfast in a nearby Mall, and there she is asked to fill in a survey about
Egyptian food and cooking. Monera completed the survey relentlessly, and
when she signed her name “Mo Nera Salah” the person in charge asked her if
she is related to “Mo Salah”, so she felt flattered and went back home. John,
the survey guy, called Monera after a couple of days and asked her to try out
some cooking pans in his restaurant kitchen as a type of promotion. Monera
reluctantly agreed, and she ended up signing a contract with John’s English
food company to film cooking series with them. On the other hand, Magdy’s
second marriage collapsed, while Monera’s life was getting better and better.
Magdy felt that he should get back to Monera, but then he discovered her
cooking contract and that she got an offer from the English company to travel
to London on their expenses she and their children. Only then, things took an
unexpected turn.