Novel set around Meknes, MOROCCO

15th February 2022

The Country of Others by Leïla Slimani, novel set in Meknes, Morocco. Translated by Sam Taylor.

Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, 2022 – Fiction, with a Sense or Place.

Having read both Adèle and Lullaby, two previous novels by this author, I am struck by how versatile her storytelling is. Here she turns her hand to Post WW2 Morocco. It is the 1950s and she follows the life of Mathilde – who hails from Alsace – as she tries to find her feet in a very different country. She has married Amine Belhaj and they settle into a farm outside Meknes. The inspiration for the story came from her own family experience.

Morocco in the 1950s is in quite a state of turmoil. In 1912 France and Spain divided the country into respective protectorates and finally the country gained independence in 1956. Leading up to independence, there was considerable unrest and violence and given that Mathilde was blond and fairly tall, she stuck out and could be perceived as a part of the colonial oppressors. The treatment of women was considerably different and she had to adjust to being perceived as a lesser soul, subjugating herself to her – at times – volatile husband.

She bears him children, tries her hand at herbalism and generally manages the household whilst her husband tries to make a success of the farm – with one or two ill advised decisions along the way, rendering them at times impecunious. Sometimes he is good to her, at others he is downright despicable – consider Amine getting her to push their jalopy for several miles on their way to a lunch date, so that she would arrive sweaty and dishevelled and he would remain pristine and elegant.

It is quite dense storytelling that lingers in the moment, at times it is dark, certainly depressing and cloying and could feel quite severe; there is no real lightness of touch that has been evident in other novels but perhaps that was intentional given the subject matter. The trajectory of storytelling sometimes wavers, circles round and then moves on, characters come and go and never reappear. It is rich, it is very readable but can at times be quite intense.

I understand this is the first novel in a trilogy and therefore the ending is designed to move into the next story. The novel is a filmic clip of one couple’s life, set against the backdrop of the country’s move towards independence. It is terrific for sense of place and if you are looking for a novel set in Morocco, that gives you a feel for the echoes of footsteps past, then this is a great choice. The writing is lyrical, the translation excellent and she is deft at transporting her readers to the the time and place.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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