This Blinding Absence of Light

Tahar Ben Jelloun author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd

Published:1st Sep '05

Should be back in stock very soon

This Blinding Absence of Light cover

In this extraordinary non-fiction novel, based on a true story, Tahar Ben Jelloun traces the experiences of Salim who, in 1971, took part in a failed coup attempt to oust King Hassan II of Morocco. With sixty others Salim was incarcerated in a secret prison complex in the Moroccan desert: he was to remain there for nearly twenty years.



In starkly eloquent, beautiful prose, Ben Jelloun relates the prisoners' experiences as they struggle to survive. The son of a witty, feckless courtier who disowns him, Salim tells stories to keep sane - from the suras of his beloved Koran to the plot of A Streetcar Named Desire. Even in the darkest, most terrible conditions, sympathy, insight, the human quest for meaning and understanding, never desert Salim. The resulting novel is a wrenching yet exquisite celebration of the human spirit and its determination to survive.



'A masterpiece' Judges of the IMPAC award



'a sad and splendid book' New York Times Book Review

  • Short-listed for Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2006

ISBN: 9780141022826

Dimensions: 198mm x 130mm x 13mm

Weight: 150g

208 pages