Priviți-ne cum dansăm!

It is 1968 in Morocco. Mathilde runs the home. Amin builds a thriving business on land that was once dry. Their wealth makes them trust in a bright future. Their daughter Aïcha comes home from her studies in France. She brings cracks in their family life to light. Their son Selim does not plan to run the family firm. Hippie life and the promise of America draw him. Their choices test their parents’ faith in their own freedom.

Leïla Slimani sets this family tale in troubled times. It spans years in Morocco after French rule. This novel about the past looks at power at home and in the state. It links control of women’s bodies to wider forms of rule. It is book two of three in Țara celorlalți. These books draw in part on the author’s own life. This one follows Războiul, războiul, războiul. Daniel Nicolescu translated it from French. Its French title is Regardez-nous danser.

Slimani is a French novelist and journalist with roots in Morocco. She was born in Rabat in 1981. At seventeen, she moved to Paris. She studied politics and media at Sciences Po and ESCP Europe. She first hoped to act, then worked for Jeune Afrique. Her first novel came out in 2014. Her later novel Cântec lin won the 2016 Prix Goncourt. It also earned nominations for four other book prizes.