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This meticulously researched, fictionalized account of well-known American writers Paul and Jane Bowles peeks behind the curtain of their expatriate life in 1940s Morocco.
In self-imposed exile and free from the moralistic constraints of the West, Paul and Jane wrote, fought, and loved feverishly, both each other and others of all sexes. The passion, envy, and exuberance that defined their unconventional marriage thrived in sharp contrast to a country straining for independence under the thumb of its colonial keepers.
Told by Paul, Jane, and Belaquassim, Paul’s young Moroccan lover, In Tangier, We Killed the Blue Parrot is a study of contrasts—in the exotic, the erotic, the political, and the creative life.
“A haunting tale, delicately told. Adair has done an impressive amount of research to lay bare the underbelly of authorial fame. Writerly narcissism, betrayal, moral confusion, love, lust and loss are the themes developed here in the context of the historical foray of Jane and Paul Bowles into Morocco. It is a reading experience that lingers in the mind through the quiet but compelling depictions of artistic grandiosity, hubris and despair set against a backdrop of power struggles in dysfunctional relationships and against the weft of politics and an economy of survival in a developing country. Hard questions about the ethics of writing and authorship in any comparable situation clearly inform this narrative and lend a self-reflexive depth to all the voices that Adair so skillfully evokes for her purpose. Yet it also leaves the reader with an overbearing sense of melancholy and sadness about the (unavoidable?) traps of desire and exoticism that any western writer confronting any ‘other’ will encounter.” – Marlene van Niekerk