Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
A powerful and poetic masterpiece where ordinary people’s dreams play out in a city plagued by government exploitation and crime
Shortlisted for the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation
As his wife delivers their child in the next room, a man wakes from the nightmare of a teenage girl’s body lying beneath his bed. In this twilight before birth, Fadel’s epic novel catches us in the confusion between exaltation and despair. The girl, Farah, once dreamed of being a singer in Casablanca, a city standing in the shadow of the tallest minaret in the world.
Illuminating the aspirations of those just struggling to make a living, A Shimmering Red Fish Swims with Me is a tour-de-force, a novel of power plays and petty jealousies, deceit and corruption, love and loss, written with Fadel’s masterful, narrative control and searing, historical insight.
"Fadel’s novel is deeply human and humane....astonishing" —Asymptote Journal
"An ambitious novel in form, with captivating narrative and language, that poses questions beyond its immediate context.” —Mohamed Berrada, author of Like a Summer Never to Be Repeated
"Masterfully translated . . . A Shimmering Red Fish Swims with Me will draw readers into a world that, on the surface, may be unfamiliar, but is, in fact immediately recognizable for what it reveals about our human desires, flaws and triumphs."—Elizabeth Nunez, author of Prospero’s Daughter
Praise for Youssef Fadel:
“[Fadel’s] books are full of hopeful, human interactions; through these, the reader is able to catch a glimpse of a better world.”—The New Yorker
"An astonishing novel." —Le Monde Diplomatique
"[Fadel is] a valued asset of modern Moroccan literature." —Aujourd'hui Le Maroc
"A masterful history of modern Morocco."—bookshy
"Reads like a taut and claustrophobic detective story."—Literary Hub
"Fadel's novel brings out the importance of seeing one's place even in the darkest of times."—Wawa Book Review
"Events progress rapidly with the acute tension of a detective novel." —The National