Mamdouh, AliaNaphtalene, A Novel of BaghdadFiction. A literary event: the first novel by an Iraqi woman to be published in the United States. Seen through the eyes of a strong-willed and perceptive young girl, NAPHTALENE beautifully captures the atmosphere of Baghdad in the 1940's and 1950's. Alia Mamdouh vividly recreates a city of public steam baths, roadside butchers and childhood games played in the same streets where political demonstrations against British colonialism are beginning to take place. Through Mamdouh's strikingly inventive use of language, nine-year-old Huda's stream-of-consciousness narrative expands to take in the life not only of a young girl and her family, but of her street, her neighborhood and her country.