Description: After ne'er-do-wells spread rumors about a widowed mother's weak moral character among the people of a slum on the outskirts of Tunis that festers with migrants who have come to the metropolis from the heartland in search of a better life, her twenty-year-old son takes matters into his own hands and commits an unspeakable crime.
Brief description: Hassouna Mosbahi was born in Kairouan, Tunisia, in 1950. He received the National Novel Prize (Tunisia) in 1986 and the Tukan Prize (Munich) in 2000. A Tunisian Tale is his first novel to be published in English.
Review Quotes: "A Tunisian Tale really is quite a unique piece of fiction in contemporary Arabic literature. It is a novel that challenges both thematic and stylistic conventions."--Arabic Literature
"As in the real Tunisia, death by burning launches a thousand stories. Mosbahi's pacing is excellent, and this book holds its reader ever at the edge of his seat . . . makes for a witty, teasing, and delightful read."--Egypt Independent"A Tunisian Tale is an incredibly kinetic book, which will pick you up and swirl you through a chute of hypocrisy and contradiction right to its invigorating conclusion."--ELEUTHEROPHOBIA