Description
Step into an extraordinary, kaleidoscopic alternative history of modern Tunisia with this sweeping and multi-generational historical saga from award-winning academic Amira Ghenim. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of a nation fighting colonial rule and searching for its true cultural identity, the narrative explores the deep divide between two elite upper-class families: the rigidly conservative, patriarchal Ennaifers and the open-minded, highly progressive Rassaas. On one fateful night in December 1935, their destinies are permanently shattered when Zubaida, the young wife of Mohsen Ennaifer, is accused of maintaining an illicit love affair with Tahar Haddad.
Tahar is a real-life historical reformer and radical intellectual of humble origins who championed women’s rights in the Arab world. The scandalous tryst and its decades-long aftershocks are brilliantly pieced together through the distinctive voices of eleven different narrators. Each confession exposes hidden layers of pride, social inequality, classism, and domestic friction. Moving back and forth from the 1930s to a contemporary search for long-buried family truths, this English-language debut unfolds as a powerful, suspenseful examination of how secret histories can fester within a society.
