سيف الصوان

The novel imagines the life of Boubaker al-Roubi, a livestock herder known for his cunning, who in the 1940s enlists in the auxiliary units of the French colonial forces in the deserts of southern Tunisia, near the borders with Algeria and Libya. He climbs the ranks through brutal loyalty, fighting local uprisings and ambushes on French troops, and at one point lays siege to the rebel Hamad ibn Ubayd in a mountain cave. In 1943 Italian and German forces occupy the south and back local revolts against France, then withdraw, leaving the people to French reprisals carried out with the help of local collaborators like him. In old age he carries the guilt of the fighters he tortured and handed over.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Historical, War, Politics (assigned by AI)

Set in

Tunisia, 1940s

Series

Desert Trilogy, book 3

First published

2026 by Khraief