International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) 2021 Shortlist.

The novel opens with the interrogation of a man in a military encampment after he fled from the angry inhabitants of Douar Sidi Majdoub. This district in the town of Mostaganem, Algeria, is named after a Muslim saint whose tomb he and his German friend raided for ancient artefacts. He now faces serious charges, from conspiracy with foreign organisations against his country to murder. His accusers offer him a deal to protect him from the anger of the mob in exchange for a full confession. Throughout the course of the cross examination, he revisits his past to explore the roots of his present dilemma and tells stories which blend imagination and reality, illusion and the truth.