The Mirror of Lady Mo

Can one consider his/her life partner's eyes as a mirror that reflects their true

image? If not, what shall we do? We live in this novel the last three months of

a traditional marriage from the point of view of its heroes. In each chapter, a

mirror is broken for another to be made, so that hopefully we can see the image

more clearly.

This novel is about a married couple in a traditional marriage with 3 kids. Monera

is 40 years old; she is a stay-at-home mom who is good at cooking, which is

why she is overweight. At the beginning of the novel, she is shocked when her

husband, Magdy, tells her that he wants a divorce. When she pressed to know

the reason, she discovered that this is a precondition from his intended future

wife. She acts calmly and asks for a 3-month transitional time before finalizing

the divorce, for the sake of their children, and Magdy agrees.

Monera feels relatively free to do whatever she wants, so she went to have

breakfast in a nearby Mall, and there she is asked to fill in a survey about

Egyptian food and cooking. Monera completed the survey relentlessly, and

when she signed her name “Mo Nera Salah” the person in charge asked her if

she is related to “Mo Salah”, so she felt flattered and went back home. John,

the survey guy, called Monera after a couple of days and asked her to try out

some cooking pans in his restaurant kitchen as a type of promotion. Monera

reluctantly agreed, and she ended up signing a contract with John’s English

food company to film cooking series with them. On the other hand, Magdy’s

second marriage collapsed, while Monera’s life was getting better and better.

Magdy felt that he should get back to Monera, but then he discovered her

cooking contract and that she got an offer from the English company to travel

to London on their expenses she and their children. Only then, things took an

unexpected turn.