When Suzanna Clarke and her husband bought a dilapidated house in the Moroccan town of Fez, their friends thought they were mad. Located in a maze of donkey-trod alleyways, the house – a traditional riad – was beautiful but...

The author and her husband have managed to delve into life in the Medina, discovering the life of the women behind the walls of the Medina, as they spoke Arabic, a real asset in those days. A vivid portrayal...

Michael Palin picks A YEAR IN MARRAKESH by Peter Mayle as one of his top ten books. One of those travel classics in the Englishman (of some means) abroad vein, this shows a great deal of sensitivity to both...

This is a fictional account of a pirate raid which occured off of the Cornish coastline in the 1600s, but is actually based on historical facts that have been meticulously researched. 60 villagers are captured and stolen off to...

Shortly after the 2005 London bombings, Tahir Shah was thrown into a Pakistani prison on suspicion of spying for Al-Qaeda. What sustained him during his terrifying, weeks-long ordeal were the stories his father told him as a child in...

Young Moroccans gather regularly in a seafront cafe to gaze at the lights on the Spanish coast glimmering in the distance. Azel, the protagonist, is intent on leaving in one way or another. On the brink of despair he...

The greatest Moroccan travel book of all time, vital reading for the new upmarket Marrakesh tourism – one of the bibles of British twentieth-century Orientalism – by the author of A Ring of Bright Water – describes the extraordinary...

Casablanca’s stinking alleys are the only home that 19 year-old Youssef El-Mekki has ever known. Raised by his mother in a one-room home, the film stars flickering on the local cinemas screen offer the only glimmer of hope to...

David and Jo Henniger, a doctor and children’s book author, in search of an escape from their less than happy lives in London, accept the invitation of their old friends Richard and Dally to attend their annual bacchanal at...

Boundless wealth hides the deepest secrets . . . When a charismatic billionaire asks Ben Webster to investigate his personal affairs it isn’t long before the private spy is convinced that there is something very wrong with his new...