» Sant Joan Award

» Ciutat de Barcelona Catalan Fiction Award

A reflection upon family and the intensity of  emotional bonds that tie us to our language and culture.

A Moroccan-born girl raised in provincial Catalonia is about to become an adult. On top of the usual personal rebellion any young person goes through, she has an additional dilemma: should stay in the world of immigration or would she be able to break the bond with her mother and leave? The main character in this novel is a brilliant young woman who must chose between an arranged marriage to her cousin, or moving to Barcelona to develop her writing talents.

Her mother tongue, a variety of Berber, symbolises the difficulties of communication and the conflict of identity the protagonist experiences throughout the story, as she reflects on freedom, roots, generational differences and the complex personal, social and cultural reality her status as an immigrant imposes upon her.