It has taken a long time for northern suburbs author Tess Woods to summon the courage to write her latest novel, The Cairo Bridal Shop.
“I tell the story of Egypt’s troubled modern history here that was very challenging to write and that I know will not land well with everyone,” Woods shares.
“It took me a long time to find it in me to be brave enough to speak up this way.”
Born in Alexandria, right on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Woods moved to Melbourne with her family at age five, arriving in Australia in 1979, in a completely different culture, and starting school that same week unable to speak English.
It was a move of necessity, to protect the boys of the family from being enlisted in the army through compulsory draft during volatility in the Middle East, where Egypt had been at war with Israel, and the threat of more war was real.
“The Ayatollah had just taken over Iran and fundamentalism was gaining speed at that time through pockets of the Middle East with a wave of conservatism, when these places had up until that point been more cosmopolitan,” Woods explains.
“It was alarming to our family that this new way of life could spread to Egypt. Being Christian, they’d heard about the persecution of Christians in neighbouring countries, and it scared them.
“My mum was out in her car alone one day dropping my brother and I to day care before she was going to work, and a group of men started attacking the car. They tried to roll it down a ditch but luckily the police were on street duty and they came and rescued us. Mum said after that she really wanted to leave. She didn’t feel safe anymore.”
Following the breakout success of her 2025 book The Venice Hotel — hitting third spot on the Australian fiction chart in its first week of release — Woods says The Cairo Bridal Shop is a story about women, for women.
She wrote it in honour of her late nana who was a bridal seamstress, and the story itself is about three sisters who live above the dress shop that once belonged to their mother, who has died.
“At the start of the novel the reader finds out that all three sisters have disappeared, and nobody knows what’s happened to them,” Woods explains.
“The story goes back in time to tell you what led up to their disappearance.
“There’s the elderly seamstress who lived with the sisters above the shop. She’s the keeper of secrets and she’s the only one who knows why and how the sisters disappeared. Then there are the six brides. Each one is a modern-day retelling of the ancient Pharaoh queens.
“It’s a little bit of everything. There’s a glimpse into Egyptian history and mythology, the modern history of the revolution of 2011, some romance, some mystery, some delicious food, and it’s all set at the foot of the pyramids.”
Woods creatively uses the six bridal gowns, each named in honour of a Pharaoh queen, as a vehicle for bringing said queen’s story to life in a playful and accessible way for readers.
“Showing how the ancient stories play out in a modern-day setting was a way to demonstrate how similar we are as women,” she says.
“No matter where or when we are born or what our circumstances are, we are resourceful and clever, and we find a way to survive in a man’s world.”
Although the novel is completely fictionalised, Woods admits she drew inspiration from her family and heritage, from her bridal seamstress nana to several cousins — one a human rights lawyer, one a defence lawyer, and one a professional artist.
“My uncle who was a revolutionary and progressive doctor, who championed contraception for women, found his way on to the page too,” she says.
“And so many small things, our habits, our food, our turns of phrase, some of our in-jokes all made their way into the story. I named 18 of the characters after my cousins too.”
For Woods, it was by far her most difficult book to write, partly because of the pressure she put on herself to get it right for the people who matter most to her, her family,
“I wanted to get that balance right of showing my beloved country of birth in all her beauty, the rich history, the magic of the Pharaohs, the warmth and hospitality and resilience of her people,” she says.
“But also, not to gloss over the dark underbelly of politics and patriarchy and misogyny of the last century that has damaged Egypt so much.
“I wanted to showcase that Egyptian women are feisty and tough but also the duality of that, in that they have the odds stacked against them in the way the country is run.
“On top of all of that, the sheer scope of the story was huge, to bring into play the lives of the Pharaohs, the mythology of the gods and goddesses of the Ennead, the modern history of the last 70 years. It was all so daunting.”
The Cairo Bridal Shop is available now.
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