Books from Morocco

Alya, a 45-year-old United Nations diplomat, is finally given the assignment she has spent years working towards: leading peace negotiations on Syria from Geneva. Experienced, determined, and deeply committed to diplomacy, she knows that success depends on patience, careful preparation, and the ability to find common ground between opposing sides. But when she meets Alexei, her Russian counterpart, professional collaboration becomes entangled with personal feelings. Then Russia invades Ukraine, transforming the geopolitical landscape and threatening everything Alya has built, both professionally and privately. As diplomatic tensions intensify, she must confront the contradictions between her ideals and the political realities of the institution she serves. Drawing on the author’s experience inside the United Nations, this novel explores the hidden complexities of international diplomacy, the compromises required to pursue peace, and the personal sacrifices women make while navigating positions of power. It is also an intimate portrait of a woman reconsidering her identity and ambitions at midlife, asking what remains of the self when professional responsibilities and personal desires collide.

On a cold January day in 2017, a young Gambian refugee named Pateh Sabally drowns in Venice’s Grand Canal while tourists and passers-by watch. Some even hurl insults at him. Horrified by this tragedy, a young writer sets out to reconstruct Pateh’s final days and understand the circumstances that led to his death. Moving through Venice’s literary history, from Thomas Mann to Marcel Proust, the narrator confronts an uncomfortable question: what does it mean to celebrate beauty and culture while turning away from human suffering? Blending fiction, investigation, and literary reflection, Khalid Lyamlahy offers a powerful meditation on migration, racism, indifference, and the moral responsibility of witnessing another person’s pain. Venice Requiem is both a tribute to a forgotten life and an indictment of a society that too often fails to recognise the humanity of those on its margins.