Street of thieves

By Mathias Énard

Subjects: Barcelona (spain), fiction, Fiction, suspense, Arab Spring, 2010-, Fiction, Muslims

Description: Exiled from his family for religious transgressions related to his feelings for his cousin, Lakhdar finds himself on the streets of Barcelona, hiding from both the police and the Muslim Group for the Propagation of Koranic Thoughts -- a group he worked in Tangier, Morocco, not long after being thrown out on the streets by his father. Lakhdar's transformations -- from a boy into a man, from a devout Muslim into a sinner -- take place against the backdrop of some of the most important events of the past few years: the violence and exciting eruption of the Arab Spring and the devastating collapse of Europe's economy. If all that isn't enough, Lakhdar reunites with a childhood friend -- one who is planning an assassination, a murder Lakhdar opposes.