This is a fascinating and involving biography. Critchfield, an anthropologist by training, lived for two years with Shahhat's family in a small peasant village near the Valley of the Kings, which is where Tutankhamun's tomb is, across the Nile from Luxor.

Shahhat himself is an interesting, honourable and passionate young man who is trying to find his feet in the community; his life is constantly impinged upon by poverty, family feuds and the social restrictions which characterise some Moslem communities (sorry if I'm offending anyone, but I know from personal experience that that's the truth). The concept of family honour is very strong, as are certain sexual taboos; when a young woman was discovered having sex with the wrong man, her father and brothers took her out to a field and slit her throat so as to preserve the family's reputation.

Of course, it is some of the ideas which are crazy and bad; the people are the same mixed bag of personalities that you will find in any human culture. Their yearnings, friendships, bickering, and strength of character are recognizable to us all; Critchfield relates events with sensitivity and great empathy.

'Shahhat: An Egyptian' is really interesting, and sometimes very moving.

Click here to buy it (£8.55 - about $14).

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