Content Warning: This novel explores racism, enslavement, and misogyny. It also discusses murder, rape, and self-harm.

Nahri waits on a street in Cairo for two male clients. She gathers that they are Turkish by noticing their features and the style of their coat. Nahri is a young woman with sharp features and black eyes. She easily tricks her clients into following her directions and spending their money to prevent an illness that does not exist. The French, led by Napoleon, have just taken control of Egypt from the Ottoman empire. There is budding political conflict due to the occupation.

After her clients leave, Nahri reflects on her situation, lamenting that she will never have enough money to make it to Istanbul to study “respectable trade and actual healing instead of this ‘magical’ nonsense” (7).

Yaqub runs a pharmacy down the block to which Nahri often refers her clients. Yaqub is older and protective, urging her to leave the city and find a husband to protect her. They have a mutually beneficial business partnership.

Yaqub chides Nahri for trying to lead magical ceremonies called zars. He warns her that appropriating a tradition that is not hers will end poorly.