As a young widow with two boys to raise, Horia El-Gharib struggled to reconcile tradition and change. She dared to take on a man's role in commerce and trade to protect the future of her sons—but now, all is at risk in the midst of the turmoil of the newly independent regime.
Lion Mountain is the unforgettable story of a stubborn old woman, a one-legged Nubian war hero, and a mountain.
Mustapha Tlili, a native of Tunisia,currently makes his home in New York City. His four novels have all been published in France to high acclaim. The French edition of Lion Mountain was short-listed for the prestigious Prix Fémina in 1988.
"This skillful translation is faithful to the original’s delicate and evocative language, filled with poetic analogies reminiscent of the Koran. Motherhood and motherland are pointedly interwoven in this work, whose author is so evidently at one with his land.”—Library Journal
"[Tlili's] description of the willful destruction of a small paradise is movingly elegiac.”—Kirkus Reviews
"[Tlili's] fresh, imaginative descriptions empower this work with magic, myth, and poetry.”—Publishers Weekly
"Mr. Tlili has written a small but elegant novel whose characters bear universal truths.”—The New York Times
"This novel is so beautifully written that it becomes poetry. And the poetry is so infused with love that it becomes a song.”—Gloria Naylor
"Lion Mountain is a superb, beautifully written novel.... A moving portrait of a woman ... through whom the entire history of her country is played out.”—La Vie (Paris)