The Road to Fez
Brit Lek is 18. She has returned to her grandmother's house in Morocco from America, where she was raised, to fulfill her mother's dying wish, to visit the grave of Suleika, a Moroccan-Jewish girl, martyred in Fez. But the house has another refugee, Brit's uncle, Gaby, her mother's younger brother. Living as a recluse since the death of his wife, Gaby leaves his room only to work and pursue his love of sculpting in clay, but he captivates Brit with his intensity and his disregard for the fear and limitation that still define Moroccan-Jewish life in 1969. She becomes obsessed and pursues him, negotiating the narrow bridges between Jewish and Arab, ancient and modern, girlhood and adulthood, women and men. Setton gives us a glossary of Arabic and Judeo-Arabic terms and plunges into a world of living history that is both richly drawn and ornately decorated. Some of Setton's prose is purple, but most is turquoise blue and gold, shimmering with the intensity of a character aggressively seeking her own fulfillment.Sharon GreeneCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved