The Country of Others

Dazzling - ambitious, stylish, deeply evocative, and with such clever and intimate characterisation. A terrific achievement.

The world of this novel - Morocco after World War II, leading up to the revolt against French colonialism - is beautifully created. Personal life, social life, everyday life spring vividly from the page, and we feel deeply for the family caught in the middle of the conflict of history. An exceptional, powerful novel from this justly celebrated writer.

A powerful and compelling family saga—about women and subjugation, otherness and belonging, and the often conflicting loyalty to both family and country—written with a deftness that has come to define Leila Slimani’s writing. It will no doubt resonate in the reader’s mind long after the final sentence is read.

A narrative at once richly layered and deceptively simple. I loved it and didn't want it to end.

Slimani excels at telling this wide-ranging story, expertly folding themes of love, loss, alienation, gender, and belonging into a complex narrative.

Slimani's writing has a tremendous evocative power: we see the earth, the house, the dust. We smell the sweet scent of oranges and the acrid smell of sweat. We feel the fear when the nationalist revolt rumbles all over Morocco . . . The Country of Others is a magnificent novel.