Leaving Tangier

An exile can leave his country, but he can never escape himself. Moroccan novelist Tahar Ben Jelloun tells the story of a brother and sister who seek a better life in Spain, just eight miles across the sea from Tangier, but who are thwarted (or debased) at nearly every turn. Leaving Tangier is, like Manhattan Transfer, an argument for the idea that novels are as good a way to learn about the world as histories.