I wrote a second book!
For Aliya Alaoui, the world ended twenty-five years ago. For the twenty-five women lodged in her citadel, it did the day that they decided to give her their names, their clothes and their lives.
The clock of the world starts a countdown when Zahara Ahmed, a young freelance journalist, infiltrates in the infamous Fez citadel to document the lives of its dwellers. Cloistered in their wooden cage, they live and think in an alternate version of the present, the roots of which Zahara tries to dig out as discreetly as she can. But a very sharp ear is needed to notice the sound of the time hands that move inside their minds, to the beat of the great central clock that the hostess keeps in hers. A very sharp wit is needed to understand what this means to the world.
A lot has happened since I wrote "Antheads", my first book. My writing has changed, my mindset has switched, I have become a little less bitter and a little more numb. "Antheads" was a story of rage and rebellion, "The madani phenomenon" is a tale of resignation. It is about acknowledging the cycle of sorrow and accepting its repeating course - sometimes even boycotting positive change out of the belief that it will all eventually fall back in painful loop. You might not notice it in your first read, maybe not even in your second, but the plot of this book is not that much about the functioning of a cult, and more about how bad behaviors repeat themselves over and over if the people that exhibit them are consistently left alone with their thoughts - as I have found myself in the past few years. It is not exactly a hopeful message yet, but at least it's not the mindless anger that I spilled all over "Antheads", when I was still too young to know what was going on with me. And, well, if you don't mind about all the deep stuff, it's still an entertaining story.
The book is currently available in Spanish here. This link will redirect you to amazon.com — it is also available in other markets, just change the extension.
» Here are some of the characters of my story:
