The King's Fool

It is the final year of the twentieth century and King Sidi is dying . . .

Mohamed has been the king's fool for thirty-five year, his closest counsel, privy to his deepest secrets and most intimate thoughts. It is an honoured position for which many would pay a hefty price. Something Mohamed understands only too well, for this closeness has indeed come at a terrible cost. The threat of imprisonment looms, even as the once-mighty monarch draws his final breaths.

In the last days of this all-powerful tyrant of the twentieth century, his faithful court fool takes stock of the decades he spent in the Moroccan king's service. For the many years of corrosive love and loyalty have left certain indelible wounds . . .

Translated from the French by Ben Faccini

“Alegend, a cruel fantastical dream, and a true feat of literature-- Nicole de Poncharra , Maroc ”

A legend, a cruel fantastical dream, and a true feat of literature -- Nicole de Poncharra Maroc à Livre Ouvert
A beautiful novel, as tender as a gazelle's horn -- Sara Daniel BibliObs

Mahi Binebine is a Moroccan painter, sculptor and author, born in Marrakesh in 1959. He studied mathematics in Paris and taught the subject for eight years before returning to Morocco in 2002. He is the author of six novels, which have been translated into a dozen languages between them, and his paintings are now part of the permanent collection at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

It is the final year of the twentieth century and King Sidi is dying . . . Mohamed has been the king's fool for thirty-five year, his closest counsel, privy to his deepest secrets and most intimate thoughts. It is an honoured position for which many would pay a hefty price. Something Mohamed understands only too well, for this closeness has indeed come at a terrible cost. The threat of imprisonment looms, even as the once-mighty monarch draws his final breaths.In the last days of this all-powerful tyrant of the twentieth century, his faithful court fool takes stock of the decades he spent in the Moroccan king's service. For the many years of corrosive love and loyalty have left certain indelible wounds . . . Translated from the French by Ben Faccini

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