In this novel, Mohammed Ali Ibrahim makes the setting on the border region ‎between Egypt and Israel, continuing to explore themes of freedom and ‎humanity from a new perspective—one that arguably complements the work ‎begun in his previous novel (Layla and Franz). Yet, set in a region fraught ‎with extreme sensitivity and volatility, the narrator seems to relish navigating ‎a minefield, employing a relatively satirical tone even amidst highly complex ‎situations. Throughout, he maintains his preference for a multi-voiced ‎narrative, endowing each character with a distinct voice of its own. The ‎author also employs another narrative device by reviving characters from his ‎earlier novels: Saleh Al-Jaafari reappears as a co-protagonist alongside ‎Michel and Yael—having previously starred in the novel (I Teach Her ‎Touch)—while Ahmed Al-Rashidi, a "shadow figure" from (Hajar Beit Khilaf), ‎remains in that same shadowy realm in the novel currently at hand.‎
The novel raises questions regarding the possibility of a relationship ‎developing between Michel (an Egyptian) and Yael (an Israeli) in the ‎presense of characters who –individually- embody a specific intellectual and ‎temporal perspective—against the backdrop of the fragile zone between ‎Egypt and Israel, specifically in Nuweiba, located thirty kilometers from the ‎Taba crossing.‎