International Book Group – The Sand Child
The International Book Group at West Falmouth Library is a volunteer-led group that meets on the first Wednesday of each month 3:45-5pm. Selections have either foreign settings or foreign authors, usually both. New members are always welcome! Annual registration is requested to receive important communications about schedule or location changes; register for International Book Group here. Meetings are both in-person and on Zoom.
Drawing on the rich Arabic oral tradition, Ben Jelloun tells a story of power, colonialism, gender, and sexual identity in North Africa.
Praise for The Sand Child: Ben Jelloun, a writer of much originality, succeeds brilliantly in infusing his story with a melancholy that attaches itself not just to Ahmed but also to the Arab world.―Chicago Tribune
Mythic, symbolic, at times even highly poetic . . . At the center of this magical tale the question of gender (and the tangential problems of race and culture) predominates . . . The ending is absolutely startling.―Washington Post Book World
The discussion schedule is as follows:
| 9/3/2025 | Out of Darkness, Shining Light | Petina Gappah | Africa |
| 10/1/2025 | Miss Benson’s Beetle | Rachel Joyce | New Caledonia |
| 11/5/2025 | The Palace of Illusions | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni | India |
| 12/3/2025 | The Sand Child | Tahar Ben Jelloun | Morocco |
| 1/7/2026 | The Green Road | Anne Enright | Ireland |
| 2/4/2026 | Midaq Alley | Najīb Maḥfūẓ | Cairo |
| 3/4/1936 | Birnam Wood | Eleanor Catton | New Zealand |
| 4/1/2026 | Infinite Country | Patricia Engel | Colombia |
| 5/6/2026 | The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land In Between | Hisham Matar | Cairo |
| 6/3/2026 | Hurricane Season | Fernanda Melchor | Mexico |