Post 9/11 Chicago... The lives of a group of Egyptians and Americans intersect at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Naji Abdel Samet, a young academic and poet who fled to America because of the problems in his country; Graham, a white American professor who faces racism for having a relationship with a black woman named Carol; Şeyma, who is torn between the values taught by her conservative family and her new life in America; Professor Rafet Tabit, who seems to embrace his American identity with great passion, but faces the fact that he cannot break away from his roots when it comes to the "honor of his daughter"; Kerem Doss, a world-renowned Coptic surgeon who is prevented from working in his country, Egypt...

Chicago chronicles the inner worlds of all these people and their struggles with crises of freedom and identity, against a background of money, politics, sexuality and passion.

A powerful and gripping political novel. -Daily Mail

Ala El Aswani is one of the best writers in the Middle East today, with a magic all her own. Chicago proves he is a gifted novelist. -Guardian