Naguib Mahfouz

He was born in a lower middle class Muslim Egyptian family in Old Cairo. He was the seventh and youngest child, with four brothers and two sisters, all of whom were a lot older than him. As a result, he grew up as an “only child”, in a way.

The best place to start is the Chronicles Abroad series, the earliest of Naguib Mahfouz's multi-book series: it opens with Cairo (1994) and runs to 6 books across 1994–1995, ending with Istanbul (1995). Naguib Mahfouz's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Naguib Mahfouz has 70 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1939 and 2026. 9 of them belong to 2 named series — the largest being the Chronicles Abroad series with 6 books — and 61 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Naguib Mahfouz's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Chronicles Abroad (1994–1995, 6 books) and The Cairo Trilogy (2011, 3 books).

This guide splits Naguib Mahfouz's 70 books into 2 named series and 61 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Chronicles Abroad (6 books, 1994–1995); The Cairo Trilogy (3 books, 2011).