Woman at Point Zero

About Nawal El Saadawi

About Woman at Point Zero

Woman at Point Zero is Nawal El Saadawi's foundational Arab feminist novel — based on the real-life story of a woman El Saadawi met as a psychiatrist in Egyptian prison. The novel is narrated by Firdaus, a woman on death row for killing a man — recounting her life from rural childhood through forced marriage, prostitution, and the murder that brought her to the gallows. Brutally direct in its critique of patriarchy, religious hypocrisy, and economic exploitation, the novel established El Saadawi as one of the most important Arab feminist writers of the 20th century.