A young man, a pianist who hates piano, goes into a stormy relationship with a divorced woman who's older than he is for ten years.
He received a total shock when the woman dumped him at last, did an abortion for his baby, and tells him that they can't live up the relation they have, because it goes to be crushed, sooner or later.
in the final scene, we see the painter watches the TV, we could understand he's witnessing the US forces entering Baghdad, then he begin to prepare his suitcase, which gives us a hint he's going to leave the country.
The novel gained a warm receiving from the either readers and writers, it "has a specific unique world was delightfully presented by Aladdin", as Muhammad Hisham 'Abya wrote in the Egyptian famous boswtol website, and "it follow up his (Aladdin) first novel The Gospel According to Adam, continuing his writing usual course which is anti-stereotyping and anti-mechanical", As Nour Al- Asa'd wrote in the prestigious Lebanese newspaper An Nahar ( April 24, 2007), "having such minimalistic language and style, clearing psychological depth in either the hero's persona, or towards the world around" as the Egyptian notable writer Baha' Taher commented in a seminar held for the novel.
In an interview with the Egyptian prestigious literary newspaper Akhbar Al Adab, it was mentioned the secret of the title, the twenty-second day, by referring to the day US forces entered Baghdad, and the connection between a failure of a love affair, as a personal matter, and the failure of a pan-Arab dream, as a general matter.