Paperback edition of the most ambitious work to date by the writer that many now consider to be North Africa's most important literary voice. It tells the story of a modern, educated algerian woman, raised in the years of colonial oppression and the Algerian War. Tragedy and history are its subjects and particularly the condition of women in Islam. 'In this fiercely intelligent, intricate novel set in a tragic, bewitching Algeria, the tales Djebar unearths are richly detailed and gracefully told, a moving history of exile' - Publishers Weekly