Woman Country

Mariam is a Moroccan woman in Antwerp who has chosen a Western lifestyle. Resistance or resignation are the only options, she believes. At the end of a holiday in Morocco Mariam agrees, without thinking, to marry Younes. For five years he waits for her to return. Meanwhile Faïza hopes that Younes will notice her instead. Finally, deciding to deliver one last desperate letter to Mariam in Europe in person, Younes dies on the illegal crossing to Spain. A survivor carries the letter on to Mariam.

It is Lamrabet’s convincing interpretation of the characters’ points of view which makes ‘Woman Country’ so captivating. The novel presents a Moroccan outlook on the differences between Moroccans in Morocco and those who have emigrated; between their own values and Western values; between tradition and the modern ways of thinking that men find so hard to deal with.

Lamrabet creates above all a subtle and convincing portrait of a fascinating woman, who, standing firmly by her decisions, must pay the social and intellectual price.