Down the Nile : Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff

by Mahoney, Rosemary

• ISBN13: 9780316107457
• ISBN10: 031610745X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-07-11
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co

Summary

Rosemary Mahoney was determined to take a solo trip down the Egyptian Nile in a small boat, even though civil unrest and vexing local traditions conspired to create obstacles every step of the way. Starting off in the south, she gained the unlikely sympathy and respect of a Muslim sailor, who provided her with both a seven-foot skiff and a window into the culturally and materially impoverished lives of rural Egyptians. Egyptian women don't row on the Nile, and tourists aren't allowed to for safety's sake. Mahoney endures extreme heat during the day, and a terror of crocodiles while alone in her boat at night. Whether she's confronting deeply held beliefs about non-Muslim women, finding connections to past chroniclers of the Nile, or coming to the dramatic realization that fear can engender unwarranted violence, Rosemary Mahoney's informed curiosity about the world, her glorious prose, and her wit never fail to captivate.

Author Biography

Rosemary Mahoney is the author of The Early Arrival of Dreams, a New York Times Notable Book in 1990; Whoredom in Kimmage, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist in 1994; A Likely Story: One Summer with Lillian Hellman; and The Singular Pilgrim: Travels on Sacred Ground. She has received a Whiting Writer's Award.

Table of Contents

The River That Flows the Wrong Way	p. 3
Aswan	p. 21
The First Small Boat in Egypt	p. 49
The Cataract Islands	p. 67
At Elephantine	p. 88
Hoda and the Women	p. 103
Not Floating but Flying	p. 118
Maritime Etiquette	p. 136
A Night at Silwa	p. 160
Luxor	p. 180
A Boat of My Own	p. 194
Alone	p. 214
Fear Afloat	p. 234
Bibliography	p. 271
Acknowledgments	p. 275
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.