First published 2014
Lakhdar walks the streets of Barcelona as both an exile and a fugitive. His father cast him out for religious violations tied to his forbidden love for his cousin. Now he hides from Spanish police and from the Muslim Group for the Propagation of Koranic Thoughts, the organization he once served in Tangiers. The young Moroccan navigates his new reality as Europe's economy crumbles around him and the Arab Spring ignites across North Africa. His survival depends on staying invisible, but when a childhood friend resurfaces with plans for an assassination, Lakhdar faces an impossible choice. He must decide whether to participate in violence he opposes or risk losing the only connection to his past. His journey from devout believer to outcast plays out against the backdrop of political upheaval that reshapes both his homeland and his adopted city. The boy who once followed religious law now lives by different rules entirely.
Genres: fiction, african-literature, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, forbidden-love
Setting: Barcelona, Morocco, Tangiers
Period: Arab Spring
265 pages · Paperback · Open Letter Books
Content warnings: violence