Antioch and the Hidden Kings

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"Either a life inspired by passion and illuminated by love, or a dark, gloomy, wasted life? These are two choices for living..." With this, the hoopoe begins her story.
Against the backdrop of the period before Antioch was annexed to Turkey, in that region whose myths and stories were shaped by the rebellion of the Orontes River, this novel tells the story of a group of women who lived during a period of major transformations in which the transition from feudalism to the beginnings of the modern state took place, and the impact this had on their thoughts and lives.
To the tune of the tales of "Al-Hadhdiya", the storyteller, the midwife, the keeper of secrets, about the rebellions of "Fahriya", the daughter of the conservative feudal family, and about the breakthrough that "Dada" represented in the life of that family, and her impact on "Fajr." A stormy impact that gave her a new vision of her life that helped her to get out of her past as "the daughter of the two fools" and made her reconcile with that past.
"That night will remain etched in Fajr's memory, for she expected anything from that woman who could break any law, defy any conviction, and evade everything one could think of her."
"The time came when Fajr became as she had dreamed one day while reading books in the darkness of the church. She had heard a lot in Aleppo's clubs about 'women's liberation' and about equality with men. She followed the pages of 'El, Vogue, and Jardin d'Amour' magazines. In cinema, she saw the mythical legs of Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, and Marilyn Monroe, legs that demolished male fortresses. Despite that, Fajr still believed that she had met a woman more important than all those women. She was that playful, free, and daring woman. One woman who, in her eyes, surpassed all the movie stars. A woman who possessed a terrifying, passionate, and fiery freedom—a freedom dictated by her whims."