Oroppa

THE EXTRAORDINARY INTERNATIONAL SENSATION Salomé Abergel has vanished. One of Europe's most celebrated artists, she is at the pinnacle of her career - and yet no one has any idea where she might be: dead, on the run, or simply staging one final disappearing act in a life that has always been shrouded in mystery? An unlikely group is drawn into the search. There is Irad Abergel, Salomé's estranged son returning reluctantly to Amsterdam and the memory of a mother he has long tried to forget. There is Yousef Slaoui, a drunk whose connection to the artist reaches back into the darkest moments of Morocco's history. And there is Hind el Arian, part-time waitress and full-time stoner, who somehow finds herself guarding Salomé's home - and a basement filled with the most extraordinary paintings she has ever seen. Their intertwining tales take them from the smoke-filled cafés of the Netherlands to the rowdy bars of Paris, and from the sun-bleached streets of Tunis to the wide desolation of the Sahara . . . One of the most acclaimed and bestselling European debuts in modern memory, Safae el Khannoussi's Oroppa announces the arrival of a literary star: sweeping, exhilarating and profoundly original, it is an unforgettable novel about Europe and North Africa, the people who move between them, and the histories, wounds and dreams that shape their lives.