I picked this up in anticipation of my trip to Algeria and I am glad I did. Assia Djebar wrote these seven stories during the “Black Decade” in Algeria, the 1990s, when hundreds of thousands of Algerians were targeted in assassinations and what amounted to a civil war. I appreciated that these stories centered the voices and lives of women during this time. I also appreciated how she interweaves classical themes in Arab literature, like Scheherazade’s storytelling of One Thousand and One Nights, with the modern plots of her stories. This is a unique voice to pick up if you are trying to read more women in translation, but I wouldn’t start with this one if you are new to Algerian history. It’s a fantastic book to submerse yourself more in the 1990s if you already have a general understanding of the history up to that point.