Moroccan-French Author’s Debut Novel Unearths Family Secret in Atlas Mountains

"The Taste of the Earth." A novel by Mina Fadli that tells the story of her family from Tagadirt, a small village perched in the mountains of the High Atlas. During a discussion with her father in 2010 in the kitchen of her parents’ home in Val-de-Reuil, she learns that she had a disappeared uncle, reports Paris Normandie. "At that moment, I learned that my father had a younger brother. He didn’t tell many things about his life. He was a Moroccan immigrant. When he arrived in France, you had to keep a low profile. He conformed to the expectations of society."

Her father’s memories will be useful to her in writing her novel. "My father opened up little by little. [...] It’s hard to get him to talk, he’s part of a generation of silent people." Her grandmother’s memories too. Especially the colonization and independence of Morocco. "She remembered everything, she told me a lot of things from that period." She returned to the kingdom after her father was affected by Alzheimer’s disease. "I went back to the bled. I recorded my grandmother. Her words marked me. I also read a lot about the history of Morocco."

Despite her professional life, Mina Fadli was able to write the novel that was published in October 2022. Her only regret: her uncle remains untraceable. She still keeps the hope of finding him one day.

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