This multi-generational novel traces the history of a Middle Eastern Jewish family from its roots in Aleppo, Syria through its establishment in Cairo, Egypt, and finally to its resettling in New York in the aftermath of Egypt's revolution in 1952. Sarah, her daughter Marcelle, and her daughter's daughter Lauren, each struggle with the legacy of their family and culture while trying to find their own identities as women. Leaving Egypt explores the complex negotiations immigrants face as they struggle to set down roots in an unfamiliar place, the way we are all irrevocably shaped by politics and events beyond our control, and the powerful and complex bonds between mothers and daughters.