A Rare Blue Bird Flies with Me: A Novel

by Youssef Fadel, Jonathan Smolin (Translator)

Overview

Spring, 1990. After years of searching in vain, a stranger passes a scrap of paper to Zina. It’s from Aziz: the man who vanished the day after their wedding almost two decades ago. It propels Zina on a final quest for a secret desert jail in southern Morocco, where her husband crouches in despair, dreaming of his former life. Youssef Fadel pays powerful testament to a terrible period in Morocco’s history, known as ‘the Years of Cinders and Lead,’ and masterfully evokes the suffering inflicted on those who supported the failed coup against King Hassan II in 1972.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789774167546
Publisher:	American University in Cairo Press, The
Publication date:	04/15/2016
Series:	Hoopoe Fiction
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Award-winning Moroccan novelist and screenwriter Youssef Fadel was born in Casablanca in 1949. During Morocco’s ‘Years of Lead’ he was imprisoned in the notorious Moulay Cherif prison (1974–75). A Rare Blue Bird Flies with Me is his ninth novel. He lives in Casablanca, Morocco. Translator Jonathan Smolin is the author of the critically acclaimed Moroccan Noir: Police, Crime, and Politics in Popular Culture (2013). He lives in Hanover, NH.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Novels, includes excerpts from:
Thebes at War, 1944
Khan al-Khalili, 1946
Midaq Alley, 1947
The Beginning and the End, 1949
The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Sugar Street, Children of the Alley 1956-57
The Thief and the Dogs, 1961
Adrift on the Nile, 1966
Miramar, 1967
Mirrors, 1972
Karnak Cafe
Fountain and Tomb, 1975
The Harafish, 1977
Arabian Nights and Days, 1979
The Journey of Ibn Fattouma, 1983
Before the Throne, 1983
Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth, 1985
The Day the Leader Was Killed, 1985
Morning and Evening Talk, 1987

Chapter 2: Short Stories, includes:
The Return of Sinuhe, 1941
Zaabalawi, 1962
The Conjuror Made Off with the Dish, 1969
The Answer is No, 1989
Half a Day, 1989
A Long-term Plan, 1989
Forgetfulness, 1984
The Reception Hall, 1996
Traveler with Hand Luggage, 1996
The Rose Garden, 1999

Chapter 3: Autobiographical Works, includes excerpts from:
Echoes of an Autobiography, 1994
The Dreams, 2000
Dreams of Departure, 2004

Sources

Editorial Reviews

"A masterful history of modern Morocco."—BookShy Blog

"[Fadel is] a valued asset of modern Moroccan literature."—Aujourd'hui le Maroc

"Events progress rapidly and with the acute tension of a detective novel"—Leah Caldwell, The National

"Fadel's daring account of modern Morocco widens the periphery of the English reader on a subject that is better known in Arabic and French."—Sherif Dhaimish, Qantara.de

"A Rare Blue Bird Flies With Me reads like a taut and claustrophobic detective story."—Literary Hub

"Fadel's novel brings out the importance of seeing one's place even in the darkest of times."—Wawa Book Review

From the Publisher