Sand Roses

"...an extraordinarily immersive narrative, and a fascinating story of the little-known Ouled Nail dancers." The Island Prize Judges "A compelling storyteller, fresh and engaging." Karen Jennings, An Island Tourists know it as the City of Joy. For Ouled Nail dancers, Bousaada is a city of horrors. It is 1931 when two sisters arrive in Bousaada bursting with dreams of becoming successful dancers. But the city, occupied by the ruthless French colonial army, changes their lives forever. When they kill a soldier in self-defence, Fahima and Salima must outsmart the French Colonel who will stop at nothing to uncover the truth. The sisters are driven further into a cycle of violence with every attempt to hide their crime. Risking their lives and the lives of their loved ones, the dancers find themselves at the heart of a civilizational clash. SAND ROSES is a tale of resistance, sisterhood and the shameful past of two colliding nations. This extraordinarily immersive narrative thrusts its reader into the Algerian city of Bousaada during the 1930s and the story of the Nailiya dancers.