Leaving Tangier
By: by Tahar Ben Jelloun; translated from the French by Linda Coverdale.
Contributors: Linda Coverdale (Translator)
Publisher: Arcadia Books
Published: February 2009
Place of publication: London, UK
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9781906413330
Subjects: Illegal aliens -- Spain -- Fiction.; Moroccans -- Spain -- Fiction.; Gay men -- Spain -- Fiction.; Despair -- Fiction.; Moroccans -- Morocco -- Tangier -- Social conditions -- Fiction.
Genres: Fiction
Description: Facing a future with few prospects in a country they feel has failed them, their disillusionment is matched only by their desire to reach this paradise – so close and yet so far… not least because of the treacherous waters separating the two countries and the frightening stories they hear of the fates of would-be illegal emigrants.

Azel, the protagonist, is intent upon leaving one way or another. On the brink of despair he meets Miguel, a wealthy Spanish gallery-owner, who promises to take him to Barcelona if Azel will become his lover. Seeing no other solution, and although he has a girlfriend to whom he is promised, Azel agrees to Miguel’s proposition and thus begins a different kind of hell for the young Moroccan – shame and self-disgust at his own helplessness gradually overcome him and he finds himself once more in a hopeless situation. Azel and others like him, including his sister, begin to wonder if the reality of life in Europe will live up to their dreams.