Silence of the Horizons

SILENCE OF THE HORIZONS by Mbarek Ould Beyrouk (long version) In this profound and poetically written novel by the award-winning Mauritanian author Beyrouk, a young man, Nadir, must confront his inner demons in the wake of a passionate act of violence that left a woman lying unresponsive at the water's edge. In a state of moral confusion, he flees the scene of the crime and joins up with a friend who acts as a tour guide for foreign tourists camping in the desert where he is hired as the group's "griot" or storyteller for the wide-eyed children of the families seeking the real desert experience. As he regales them with fantastic tales of djinns and far-away worlds, he grapples with his conscience as to whether or not he should turn himself in and confess his crime to the police. Beyrouk brings the desert to life with vivid descriptions of the dunes, the stars and the emptiness of the sub-Saharan region while recounting his protagonist's outer and inner voyages. Wrestling with his own dilemna, Nadir reflects on his father, a much beloved griot and guide, who had been falsely accused and condemned for a crime. In a narrative that brings to mind Albert Camus' The Stranger and the writing of Antoine de St. Exupery, Beyrouk draws the reader deep into this young man's moral anxiety and fears as he determines the right path to take. Mbarek Ould Beyrouk (Beyrouk) is a French-speaking Mauritanian journalist and author five novels and a collection of short stories. He received the Ahmadou-Kourouma Prize for his novle Le Tambour des Larmes (the Drum of Tears) in 2016 as well as the Prix du Romann metis des Lyceens. His novel PARIAHS was the first complete work of his to be translated and published in the United States. Most recently, his novel SAARA was awarded the 2023 Prix Litteraire les Afriques, awarded annually to an African writer of fiction highlighting human, societal or political issues related to Africa and its diaspora.Previous winners have included Imbolo Mbue and Ayobami Adebayo and it is awarded by the Swiss Association La Cene Literary Marjolijn de Jager, Ph.D. is a literary translator with a special interest in Francophone African literature, both Sub-Saharan and from the Maghreb. She has worked closely over the past several years with Schaffner Press as translator, most recently on the Albertine Award winning novel, MILWAUKEE BLUES by Louis Philippe Dalembert, named one of the best books of world literature in Library Journal for 2023. Of Dutch descent, she grew up in Indonesia and Holland, and later after immigrating to the US, earned her masters and doctorate degrees from the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill. She lives in Stamford, Connecticutt with her husband, a social worker and photographer. SILENCE OF THE HORIZONS by Mbarek Ould Beyrouk (short version) A young Mauritanian man flees the scene of a crime to hide out in the Sahara with his friend who conducts tours for wealthy European families eager to discover the "real" desert. As he regales the tourists' children with tales of djinns and far-off worlds, he must grapple with his own moral conscience in this existential psychological thriller that resonates with Albert Camus' classic novel, The Stranger and Antoine de St. Exupéry's memoir, Wind, Sand and Stars.