Under the Tripoli Sky

A fascinating portrait of a pre-Gaddafi society on the verge of change.<br><br>Tripoli in the 1960s. A sweltering, segregated society. Hadachinou is a lonely boy. His mother shares secrets with her best friend Jamila while his father prays at the mosque. Sneaking through the sun-drenched streets of Tripoli, he listens to the whispered stories of the women. He turns into an invisible witness to their repressed desires while becoming aware of his own.<br><br>Why… (more)

A fascinating portrait of a pre-Gaddafi society on the verge of change.<br><br>Tripoli in the 1960s. A sweltering, segregated society. Hadachinou is a lonely boy. His mother shares secrets with her best friend Jamila while his father prays at the mosque. Sneaking through the sun-drenched streets of Tripoli, he listens to the whispered stories of the women. He turns into an invisible witness to their repressed desires while becoming aware of his own.<br><br>Why Peirene chose to publish this book: ‘This is a fascinating portrait of a closed society. On the surface this quiet vignette of a story could be read as gently nostalgic, but underneath the author reveals the seething tensions of a traditional city coming to terms with our modern world. The book gives us privileged access to a place where men and women live apart and have never learned to respect each other.’<strong>Meike Ziervogel</strong><br><br>‘The reader feels he is peeking through a half-drawn curtain on a secret feminine world in a patriarchal society . . . Excellent.’<strong>David Mills,<em>Sunday Times</em></strong><br><br>‘Beautifully simple and restrained prose.’<strong>Lucy Popescu,<em>Huffington Post</em></strong><br><br>‘It ought to be commended for its lack of sentimentality about this much-mythologized chapter of modern Libya.’<strong>Hasham Matar,<em>Times Literary Supplement</em></strong><br><br>‘A short but shimmering read.’<strong>Malcolm Forbes,<em>National</em></strong>