It’s the 1960s, and the air is electric. On the cusp of adulthood, two biracial siblings—one strong-willed and strait-laced, the other free-spirited and self-destructive—search for their place in a newly independent Morocco. But soon they find the ideals of their youth colliding with the realities of racism and corruption, as Moroccans once united against their colonizer make a grab for wealth and influence, and the national spirit of communal celebration gives way to elites telling everyone else to “watch us dance.” Drawing on her family’s inspiring story, Leila Slimani delivers a tense, provocative, page-turning novel about one family’s, and one country’s, coming of age in the face of the seductions of power and privilege.
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