Set in 1960s Tripoli, we follow Hadachinou, a young boy moving through a world shaped almost entirely by women in his life.

The mothers, aunts, neighbours, gossiping relatives, domestic authorities, half-seen figures behind shutters and doorways, everyone unfolds through the fragments of childhood perception. We follow him on errands, meals, whispered conversations, family rituals, small cruelties, private jokes, sudden sensual detail, and really feel the enormity of adult life glimpsed from below. 

Originally published in French as La Compagnie des Tripolitaines, this English edition is translated by Adriana Hunter. A good pick for readers interested in North African literature, childhood narration, women’s interior worlds, postcolonial domestic fiction, and short literary works that use atmosphere rather than machinery.

Peirene Press paperback edition, first published in Great Britain in 2014; translated from the French by Adriana Hunter. Very good second-hand condition overall, with light shelf wear and minor handling to the cover; internally clean and sound.