L'Enfant de sable

Synopsis of L'Enfant de sable

«L'Enfant de sable» is the novel by Tahar Ben Jelloun, published by Éditions du Seuil in paperback (216 pages, in French).

In a square in Marrakech, a narrator tells the story of Ahmed, the eighth daughter of a family that, lacking a male heir, decides to raise her as a boy. The novel follows her growth between discovered femininity and the decision to live as a man, and addresses identity, gender, and the weight of traditions in Morocco.

The novel was originally published in French in 1985, belongs to the Cadre rouge collection of Éditions du Seuil, and is inspired by a real event.

For readers of literary fiction interested in Morocco and in questions of identity and gender.