On the outskirts of Casablanca, next to the dump, is the shantytown of Sidi Moumen, where Yachine and his ten brothers grew up in the aimless chaos of drugs, violence, unemployment, and despair. The barefoot boys started their own football team - the Stars of Sidi Moumen. They played amongst the rocks, detritus, and buried skeletons of the dump but they dreamed of becoming the best football players of all time. Then their dreams changed. Yachine's older brother Hamid started growing a beard and attending religious meetings with Sheikh Abou Zoubeir. Week after week, the sheikh beguiled the Stars of Sidi Moumen into believing that there was a better world in the afterlife, where their faith in Allah would be rewarded. They needed only to choose between dying gloriously and together, or living disgracefully and alone. For Yachine and his brother, the choice was clear.
Publisher: Granta Books
ISBN: 9781847085139
Number of pages: 160
Weight: 185 g
Dimensions: 216 x 135 x 13 mm
A spare, toughly poetic novel... A stark and profound contribution to contemporary literature on terrorism - Tina Jackson, Metro
Binebine movingly portrays the path from disillusionment to violence... A timely reminder of how poverty crushes hope and breeds hatred - Lucy Popescu, Independent
This novel [offers] incredible insight into the complex lives of poor boys who are groomed to kill themselves for a cause and commit violent acts in the name of religion... Honest [and] intimate - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Binebine is at his best narrating the petty pleasures and grim realities of Sidi Moumen... At 162 fast-moving pages [the book is] a small investment to gain clear-eyed look at the Jihadi suicide bomber - New York Journal of Books
Binebine, in Lulu Norman's brilliant translation, is poetic, edgy, tragicomic, and at times too painful to read... A powerful voice with a resonating vision that echoes long after the book is put down - Banipal
A vivid portrait... Binebine movingly portrays the path from disillusionment to violence, and Horses of God is a timely reminder of how poverty crushes hope and breeds hatred - Luke Popescu, Irish Independent
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