For two local authors, finding love comes at the collision of Canadian and Egyptian culture.
Kingston co-authors Pamela Paterson and Tarek Hussein released their debut novel Take Me Back to Cairo on Aug. 6. The romance-comedy novel explores themes of multiculturalism, cultural diversity, and finding identity as a newcomer to Canada while maintaining cultural tradition.
The novel is about a modern-day romance between Yousef, a newcomer from Cairo, Egypt who struggles to balance his Egyptian Muslim culture while fitting into Canadian culture in Kingston.
While in Kingston, Yousef meets Janelle, a local Torontonian who lives an adventurous life, straying away from commitment. The story offers cultural differences as the framework of Yousef and Janelle’s love story, allowing for themes of multiculturalism and cultural identity to shine through for readers’ enjoyment.
“Take Me Back to Cairo is a Canadian book, because it’s about multiculturalism, humor, romance, and it gives us a glimpse of Egyptian culture that Canadians normally wouldn’t see,” Paterson said in an interview with The Journal.
The novel offers lively characters with complex identities that allow readers to connect and sympathize with them. The cohesive read is arguably made possible due to the connection between the authors and characters. According to Paterson, there are some parallels that exist between Yousef, Janelle, and Paterson and Hussein.
“My husband [Hussein] is the pharmacist and owner of Weller pharmacy, in north Kingston and I ride a motorcycle, and I work in IT. There are a lot of parallels kind of loosely based in fact, but at the same time, obviously, these characters are fiction and there’s a lot of other things going on in the book.”
Paterson spoke to the cultural clashes that exist for newcomers, which is something she played off to write the story. Several parts of the novel explores the experiences and differences associated with Canadian culture that newcomers, like Hussein, come to learn and experience, Paterson said.
Paterson offered an example from the novel of Yousef experiencing a language barrier when ordering at a restaurant. The server compliments his choice of food and says “oh, that’s the best menu item hands down, coming right up.” Paterson explained that “hands down” may not be understood or make sense for a newcomer to Canada.
“There’s a lot of that kind of thing in the book. I think it’s just a very good sit down, laugh out loud read is what we’ve been told.”
The book has received an array of positive reception.
“We’ve had a lot of really good feedback and reviews on Goodreads and Amazon and some other places. Our book is number three on Book Manager in the diversity and multiculturalism category.”
Paterson encourages Queen’s students to pick up the book if they get the chance.
“For the Queen’s students who are busy and studying and stressed, you know, take this book, sit down for a few hours, and have a laugh out loud experience.”
Tags
book, bookreview, Culture, Egypt, Immigrants, immigration, multiculturalism, Review
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