The Map of Love

In a third-person chapter, Amal and Isabel set off on their journey to Tawasi. While Isabel is starting to acclimatize—she’s learned how to dress for the heat and is practicing her Arabic—many other elements of Egyptian culture are still alien to her. The car breaks down on the road, and while Isabel is nervous and starts to get heatstroke, Amal remains calm, taking it as a matter of course that they should simply sit under a tree and wait until a stranger comes to tow them to the next town. Isabel is also startled by the increasingly military-feeling barricades and checkpoints they encounter as they go. One soldier who challenges them lays out the stakes, telling Amal, “You know what will happen if an American is harmed” (171).

At last they make it to the village, and Isabel is struck by the beauty of the cool domed building in which Amal’s childhood memories are preserved. Together, Amal and Isabel look at family art, including a portrait of Sharif and some watercolors by Anna, and find a flag decorated with a cross and crescent—a memento from the anti-British protests in which Amal’s grandmother participated.