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A character in The Queue

Um Mabrouk

Um Mabrouk is an older working-class woman who once served Amani’s family.

The book

Cover of The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz
The QueueBasma Abdel Aziz, 2013

An endless queue waits before a bureaucracy that controls permits, medicine, information, and official reality.

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Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Um Mabrouk is an older working-class woman who once served Amani’s family. She comes to the queue because her daughters need medical treatment. After one daughter dies, she continues seeking help for the other and builds a tea-and-coffee business among the waiting citizens. Her stall becomes a social and political hub. She sometimes responds to conservative pressure, but she also protects the short-haired woman’s meetings and acts on loyalty rather than doctrine. Her final fate is not separately resolved.

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