Eland are proud to reissue this compassionate novel. First published in French in 1999, but as timely and relevant today, on a subject rarely out of the news. Binebine is one of Morocco’s leading literary voices and artists and we welcome him to the Eland list.

A writer, says Mahi Binebine, is ‘a sponge’ forever soaking up ‘rumours, passed-down tall tales and family lore.’ Like any good storyteller, Mahi Binebine is a magpie; constantly foraging the streets of Marrakech, newspapers, and what happens in his own life, for stories he might weave into his hypnotic tales. As a young boy he would cross the Djemaa el Fna on his way to school. It was then that Mahi first witnessed the lives of the artists making their living on the square: snake charmers, street performers, merchants, beggars, migrants, and the legendary Moroccan figure of the storyteller. 
 

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