Salt of the Sahel
Ibrahim Diallo
Salt of the Sahel
Ibrahim DialloCFA 9,000
Priced by the author in XOF (Mali). You pay the NGN equivalent at today’s rate.
About this book
1892. A caravan master who has crossed the desert forty times agrees to guide a French cartographer he does not trust. What follows is a study of empire told in water rations, silence, and the small betrayals of men who need each other to survive.
Sample
A man who has crossed the desert forty times does not tell you he has crossed it forty times. He tells you the water is at nine days if the well at Bir Kasbah has not silted, and he watches your face while he says it, and what he learns from your face is worth more to him than anything you will say for the rest of the journey. Sidi ag Ahmoud watched the Frenchman's face. It did not move. That was interesting. Most Europeans arranged an expression when they heard the number …
The author
Ibrahim Diallo is a Malian historian and novelist. He spent eleven years travelling the old salt roads between Taoudenni and Timbuktu before writing this book.
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 388
- Published
- 2021
- Chapters available
- 4