In the Country of Others is about Mathilde, a young Catholic French woman, falls in love with Amine Belhaj, a Muslim Moroccan soldier who is fighting in France during World War II. She moves to Morocco when he is released from his military service. Briefly they live with his mother before moving to a desolate, isolated farm where his idealism tells him he can build a life and a living. The French colonists shun Mathilde because she married a Moroccan, and the locals regard her with suspicion because she is French. Amine becomes a different man in Morocco, a workaholic, neglecting her and his children, and even becomes abusive. The farm is so isolated and the work so hard that Mathilde must fight to keep her equilibrium.
The couple has two children. Aicha, a bright girl that Mathilde insists be educated at a Catholic school, hoping the girl will become something besides a secluded, submissive Muslim wife. Selim, the younger son, is not as well delineated. Aicha herself is shunned because she is multiracial, though she’s the brightest girl at the school and becomes a staunch Catholic under the tutelage of the nuns.
In the Country of Others is women’s fiction at its best: emotional and lyrical. The novel (part I of a projected trilogy) is written in multiple points of view, and is set against Morocco’s struggle to free itself from French colonizers. Slimani does a wonderful job capturing the heat and dust, the struggles, conflicts, and tensions between the couple , between and the French and Moroccans, and between Muslims and Catholics. It is about being a woman, personal identity, religion, freedom on a national and personal level, miscegenation, cultural and racial conflicts. An outstanding read.
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In the Country of Others (Penguin Books, May 10, 2022) is available through:
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