The Country of Others
by Leïla Slimani
The Country of Others is the first book in Moroccan-French author Leïla Slimani’s trilogy of novels based partly on her own family’s story, now translated into English. It opens in 1945 as a French woman living in Alsace falls in love with a Moroccan serving in the French army. The couple move to Morocco, where they make their lives on a farm. The story takes us through Morocco’s independence struggle from France to 1956, when the French protectorate of Morocco came to an end.