Desert – J.M.G Le Clezio

Young Nour is a North African desert tribesman. It is 1909, and as the First World War looms Nour''s tribe Рthe Blue Men Рare forced from their lands by French colonial invaders. Spurred on by thirst, hunger, suffering, they seek guidance from a great spiritual leader. The holy man sends them even further from home, on an epic journey northward, in the hope of finding a land in which they can again be free. Decades later, an orphaned descendant of the Blue Men Рa girl called Lalla Рis living in a shantytown on the coast of Morocco. Lalla has inherited both the pride and the resilience of her tribe Рand she will need them, as she makes a bid to escape her forced marriage to a wealthy older man. She flees to Marseilles, where she experiences both the hardships of immigrant life Рas a hotel maid Рand the material prosperity of those who succeed Рwhen she becomes a successful model. And yet Lalla does not betray the legacy of her ancestors.In these two narratives set in counterpoint, Nobel Prize-winning novelist J. M. G. Le Cl̩zio tells Рpowerfully and movingly Рthe story of the ''last free men'' and of Europe''s colonial legacy Рa story of war and exile and of the endurance of the human spirit.