During his sermon, the president of the country violates the instructions of those around him among the regime’s seniors, which stipulate that he should not do anything or say anything other than what they had planned for him. As a result, they begin work to complete his mission and place a new look-alike in his place from among the twelve look-alikes who train them on everything related to him. The real president, but there are those who are planning a coup against this situation, so what will be his fate?
In this highly contemporary and current work, the German writer recasts history to apply to many countries now, brilliantly depicting how during periods of tyranny many people turn into malleable tools, into machines and puppets. “Disobedience is a disease that leads to death in our country, a disease that is disappearing.”
Salman visits the dead cities to make a documentary film about them, those cities that were symbols of ancient civilizations, before they became cities of broken columns and stone remains. But he finds there, in the house of one of the city's elders, a painting of a wounded deer, signed by his mother, "Fatima." Soon, the owner of the house presents him with possible scenarios for his film, all of which revolve around “Fatima,” and he finds himself entering a magical world and a confusing maze as he spies on the hidden faces of his mother, realizing that he only knew one face of her.
In this novel, Khairy Al-Dhahabi manipulates times and multiple voices to write about dead cities and Fatima with its many mirrors. Who is she? What is its truth? What is the secret of wishing? “If her name wasn’t Fatima”?
