Eureka!


Yes folks we have gone down market! The price of hotels in Dubai is astronomical... but, a certain ferret like person has sniffed out THE EUREKA HOTEL. Where with a gin and tonic one can sit beside the pool...



...and marvel at the wonderful site of well dressed swimmers.

Cloudstreet in the UK


If anyone has their mobile number in the UK, could they email it to me?

While you are doing that, have a listen here: A LITTLE TEASE!

Samir & Zany head to Dubai


Tuesday evening Samir and Zany head to Dubai where they will stay for a couple of days to get rid of jet lag before flying on to Casablanca. On the 5th of May they will stay overnight in Rabat. On the 6th they take the train for Fes and finally home to Riad Zany.

There is a farewell sauna party on this Sunday to make sure they go off clean and well fed!

I will attempt to keep you up to speed about their travels. Following the Fes Sacred Music Festival Zany is taking a trip with Carrie to Spain for research and then in July/August she will be in France and Ireland.

Colum Sands

In Ireland Samir is doing research for a novel and meeting with Irish singer Colum Sands in Rostrevor. He will also be having a pint or two with Yvonne and Mark at the Yellow House in Rathfarnham (Dublin).

The Yellow House

1 Willbrook Road Rathfarnham, Dublin 14
Dublin City
Tel: 01 493 2994
Named after the unusual shade of the bricks with which it is built, the landmark pub of Rathfarnham makes a perfect rendezvous, with no chance of confusion. The tall and rather forbidding exterior gives little hint of the warmth inside, where pictures and old decorative items relevant to local history repay closer examination. (Traditional bar food is served in the lounge and there’s a restaurant upstairs serving evening meals and Sunday lunch.)

CLOUDSTREET'S GREAT REVIEWS!

As recorded in a previous post - Cloudstreet are heading back to the UK for another huge tour. The lastest reviews mean they will get a welcome even warmer than the last one. We wish them well.

"The Find of the Festival"
(Fylde Festival)

___

"…a delightful duo who not only inspire one another but put an indelible smile on the faces of their audiences. Strong harmonies, side-splitting stories and ballads brought to life in a way we hadn't seen before. Heartily recommended."
(Nancy Kerr and James Fagan)

___

"With stunning harmony singing, and magical arrangements John and Nicole demonstrate energy, dynamism and the sheer joy of performing together before an audience. Singing acapella or supported by instrumentation of guitars, flutes, whistles and percussion their emphasis is on songs with a traditional feel which awaken strong emotional responses."
(Greg Watson - The Tablelands Folk Festival)

___

"Exciting, polished, and professional these folks have really impressed us (and we are not easily pleased). The cross section of material is perfect, traditional to new written and the voices and harmonies are wonderful and laced with skilful musicianship that works well for big stage or small clubroom.

On top off all that, they are damn nice people!

Book 'em .you won't be disappointed."
(Dave Webber & Anni Fentiman)

Suzanna Clarke Workshop in France!

SUZANNA CLARKE IN EUROPE!

The award winning photographer is to give only one workshop this year in France. The venue is the famous Chateau Lalinde and the day is expected to be a sell out!


LET YOUR PICTURES TELL THE STORY

Join Suzanna Clarke for a day as we take some intriguing images of the picturesque region we live in. Learn how to create images that are both works of art and communicate the spirit of place. Our aim is to take a series of wonderful shots that may be exhibited in a group art show.

Programme:

This one day workshop will cover:

-- Composition: ways of seeing beyond the obvious. Breaking down a scene into details and framing it in interesting ways.
--- Light: creating atmosphere by using different types of light. How to both plan for effect and also make the best of existing lighting conditions.
-- Portraiture: Candids and posed portraits that help to reveal the character of the subject.
-- Movement: learn the tricky skill of panning to give an added sense of excitement and how to create unusual pictures using time exposure.
You will need: --a digital camera that has manual settings;
--beg or borrow (but don't steal) a small tripod if you don't have
one;
--to download pictures, a laptop would be handy if you have one.
--comfortable clothing and walking shoes


--The day will start at 07:30am at the Chateau Lalinde and include a coffee and croissant breakfast
--a working lunch will be served on the Chateau terrace
--and at the end of the day everyone will convene to study the day's work, get feedback and enjoy a glass of wine.
--There will be theory as well as field work done during the day -- and the group will be doing some walking as well as going out (transport provided) on location shooting


__________________________________

Each participant will also have one enlarged and framed photograph, chosen from their work by Suzanna and yourself, displayed at a small exhibition in Lalinde (venue to be announced) -- whether you want this photograph made available to be sold, or keep it for yourself, will be up to you!

__________________________________


Suzanna Clarke:

Suzanna Clarke is a professional photojournalist from Australia whose photographs have graced newspapers, magazines, books, postcards, advertising campaigns and exhibitions for over twenty years. Widely renowned for her travel photography, she is currently producing a book on Morocco for Penguin. Her regular job is as a photojournalist for News International. As well as covering news events in Australia, she has worked in trouble spots in Indonesia, East Timor and Asia and done travel stories on Greece , Vietnam, the Czech Republic, Eire, France, Italy, Austria, New Zealand and the UK. Clarke's photographic work has been the subject of major government touring exhibitions and has been used to promote Australia at World Expos. Previously as a freelancer she has worked for Travel and Life magazine (now Conde Nast Traveler), New Scientist, Illustrated Science (Scandinavia), The Bulletin/Newsweek, Time Magazine, WWF, numerous tourism commissions and interior design magazines. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Communication, a Masters degree in Creative Writing and has also worked part-time as a university lecturer. Clarke is skilled and enthusiastic teacher who thoroughly enjoys sharing her love of photography.

See some of Suzanna's work here

Full details on the Chateau Lalinde website

Cloudstreet in Europe

February 2006 - There and Back Again

It's been a while since our last update and so we have lots to catch up on. This is what we've been up to since September last year, when we were still in the UK, enjoying the touring and another Summer full of sunshine.

1. October

After a run of folk clubs throughout September, we really settled into the rhythm of travel in October (One four day jaunt saw us in York, Southampton, Birmingham and South Shields on consecutive nights!). Along the way, we encountered even more of Nicole's seemingly endless supply of relatives, caught up with a lot of old friends, and played at some beautiful clubs (One of our favourites being The Sutton Folk Club in Bedfordshire). This tour saw us travelling to a lot of clubs where we had not previously played, as well as a fair few return visits to places we'd been in 2004. It was a real treat having Jacey Bedford looking after the organisational side of the tour, making it possible for us to concentrate our energies on our performances.

We did manage to find time to be tourists as well as playing, even making it to Stonehenge between two gigs. John was happy that there was no repeat of his first visit, when he emerged from the tunnel to see the ancient stones among the mist, only to hear a loud, harsh voice from behind him (you guess the accent), "IT'S NOT AS BIG AS I THOUGHT IT'D BE". To balance things up, on the right you'll find a photo of John appearing to be much larger than you thought he'd be.

Towards the end of the tour, we managed a few days of down-time at Birdsedge and for Nicole's birthday, celebrated with Canadian band Tanglefoot who were staying with Jacey and playing at the beautifully restored local village hall. A great night.

We finished the month off with the Sheffield Folk Festival. Once again, we had the pleasure of teaming up with Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer to play our final performance as a four-piece. (Plans are afoot to get these guys to Australia, so we can repeat the experience on our home turf - we have a dream to meet up with them at Woodford, but we're not sure that small-pipes like the heat - more on that later).

2. Off to the Channel

As well as Jacey, our friends at Music In Hospitals were looking after us well on this trip, and so after we'd finished off the folk clubs and festivals, we were off to Jersey for a leisurely 29 performances in 11 days. Fortunately, Jersey isn't all that big a place (about 8 miles by 5 miles), but they have managed to cram 400 miles of road onto the island. Astonishing how many times you can become lost in so small a place. We had a great time on Jersey, finding it a land rich in aged-care facilities, amazing sunsets and ever-flowing Harvey's Bristol Cream.

The hospital performances are necessarily different to our normal folk-club repertoire, with lots of opportunities for singing along, and trips down memory lane. We are also always open to requests, occasionally being thrown completely (We even managed to rise to the occasion when someone wanted an Elvis cover).

We were well looked after on Jersey, and after three gigs a day, we left exhausted but happy (and we've said "yes" to Guernsey for 2006).


3. A Jaunt on the Continent

After a hectic tour in the UK and a madly busy time on Jersey, we were ready for a break. Our friend Wilna (of Christmas generosity and Wilna's Dance fame) found herself in the beautiful French town of Lalinde, with an all-but-empty chateau, and so we leapt to her assistance. We were very tired and didn't know what to expect (we are desperately short in the chateau department in Australia). WOW!

A short drive from the Bergerac airport, the chateau seemed like a magic place to us. Turrets! The Dordogne flowing outside the windows! It was almost impossible to believe, but there it was. Once again, Wilna made us welcome and we had time, space and the perfect surroundings in which to relax. Four days later, we flew back to Stansted, our hearts full of our wonderful time in France.




You can find the Cloudstreet CDs here: CLOUDSTREET



Dance Up The Sun

The fabulous new release, available for delivery from 12 April, 2006. Featuring the Wine Song, The Van Song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and the morris-friendly title-track, we reckon it's our best yet!


1. Dance Up The Sun
2. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
3. Lament for Brendan Behan/ The Auld Triangle
4. Wooden Spoon
5. The Wine Song
6. Scots of the Riverina
7. Horn Dance
8. Sweetest Complexity
9. Killing Floor
10. Rue
11. Miner's Washing
12. John Barleycorn
13. The Van Song
14. Time is a Tempest
15. Bonus Track -
The Wine Song Quartet

*Extra Bonus - Rosslyn's Boiled Fruitcake Recipe
A$30 incl p&p (Australian Buyers)
A$35 incl p&p (Rest of the world)




The Fiddleship

The Fiddleship was recorded while on tour in the UK in 2004. It includes some wonderful collaborations with Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer (check out their website), including a bigband version of "King Willy". You can read a review here. The Fiddleship is also available at cdBaby where you will find sound samples of all the tracks.


1. The Fiddleship
2. Lady Maisry
3. Winds of Fortune
4. The Lock Flight
5. Plains of Emu
6. King Willy (with band)
7. Diggins-Oh
8. The Blacktown Jig
9. Ballad
10. The Mill
11. Ave
12. Moreton Bay
13. Wilna's Dance
A$30 incl p&p (Australian Buyers)
A$35 incl p&p (Rest of the world)




Violet Sarah and Muckle John

Our second CD was given the launch of a thousand lemons at the National Folk Festival at Easter, 2002 (it all started in fun, just a bit of juggling, how do you spell melee?) Here's a review. Violet Sarah and Muckle John is also available at cdBaby where you will find sound samples of all the tracks.


1. Violet Sarah
2. Famous Flower of Serving Men
3. Jenny Greenteeth
4. Lay Me Low
5. The Diamonds
6. The Jovial Beggar
7. The Shape of Things
8. Little Black Fox
9. Muckle John
10. King Henry
11. The Briar and the Rose
A$30 incl p&p (Australian Buyers)
A$35 incl p&p (Rest of the world)




Swallow the Concertina

Our popular first release is still available. It created a stir and received great reviews - read the review from the December 2000 Folk Rag. Swallow the Concertina is also available at cdBaby where you will find sound samples of all the tracks.


1. King Willy
2. Garinish Island/ The Magic Hat
3. Annan Waters
4. Streets of Forbes
5. Gypsy
6. Swallow the Concertina
7. Parramatta Gaol
8. Honest Work
9. Ten Long Years
10. Two Sisters
11. The Green Man
12. Wasn't that a Party
A$30 incl p&p (Australian Buyers)
A$35 incl p&p (Rest of the world)


In the UK, Cloudstreet CD's are distributed through Roots Records.
Graham Bradshaw can be contacted on +44 (0)247 6711935.

New briefs from The View from Fez

  • Chinese president starts official visit to Morocco.

  • Chinese President Hu Jintao began an official visit to Morocco on Monday (24 April). The first visit by a top Chinese leader to Morocco this century will included talks with HM King Mohammed VI and the signing of several agreements concerning co-operation on trade, culture, medicine and health between the two governments.


    HM King Mohammed VI, accompanied by HRH Prince Moulay Rachid and the President of the People's Republic of China, Hu Jintao, chaired the Royal Cabinet in Rabat which included the signing ceremony of seven bilateral cooperation agreements in the fields of tourism, health, culture, economy, public works, scientific research and trade.

    A Moroccan-Chinese memorandum agreement relating to the implementation plan of organised travels for Chinese tourists to Morocco was signed by the Minister of Tourism, Handicraft and Social Economy, Adil Douiri, and the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Li Zhaoxing.

    A protocol agreement related to sending a Chinese medical mission to Morocco was signed by the Minister of Health, Mohamed Sheikh Biadillah and the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs.

    The third agreement, signed by the Minister Delegate to Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Taib Fassi Fihri, and the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, deals with an application programme of the cultural agreement for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008.

    The fourth agreement touches on the economic and technical cooperation between the two countries, according to which Beijing will grant Rabat 40 million yuans (1 Chinese yuan = 0.124772 US dollars).

    It was signed by the Minister of Finance and Privatisation, Fathallah Oualalou, and the Chinese Minister of Trade, Bo Xilai.

    The fifth agreement, signed by Oualalou and Xilai, concerns the exchange of letters on the supply of public work materials.

    The sixth agreement, which bears on the scientific and technological cooperation, was signed by the Minister of National Education, Higher Education, Staff Training and Scientific Research, Habib El Malki, and the Chinese Vice-Minister of Science and Technology, Li Xueyong.

    The seventh agreement concerns the purchase of phosphoric manures for the year 2007 between the Chinese Corporation SINOCHEM and the Moroccan Cherifian Office of Phosphates (OCP).

    After Morocco, Hu will continue his African tour by visiting Kenya and Nigeria.

  • Morocco, UAE sign judicial co-operation agreement

  • On Friday (21 April), Morocco and the UAE signed a co-operation agreement targeting the judicial and criminal fields. The agreement was signed in Rabat by Moroccan Minister of Justice Mohamed Bouzoubaa and his UAE counterpart Muhammad Nakhira Al-Dhahiri. The agreement provides for the exchange of information on judicial arrangements, legal research papers and publications and legal opinions. The agreement also encourages participation in judicial-related seminars, which will lead to the exchange of expertise between the two countries.

  • Infant mortality drops in Morocco

  • Morocco is among the nine developing countries that recorded a drop in infant mortality rates, according to a world report on the follow-up of the Millennium Development Goals published in Rabat Friday (21 April). According to the 2005 report of the World Health Organisation, the death toll among Moroccan children under five years old was estimated at 3.9 per cent in 2003.

  • Morocco ready to open dialogue with associations supporting Polisario

  • Khalihenna Ould Errachid, chairman of the Moroccan Royal Advisory Council for the Sahara Issues (CORCAS), affirmed that his institution is ready to open a direct dialogue with all the associations supporting the Polisario Front for a fruitful co-operation. "The objective of this dialogue is to contribute together to the current process aiming at finding a definite and peaceful solution to the Sahara conflict," he said in a message to the concerned associations. "We at CORCAS are convinced that dialogue is the best way to resolve conflicts," he added. The message further calls on the Polisario Front to accept negotiations to put an end to the three-decade conflict as quickly as possible.

  • Moroccan king condemns Dahab bombings

  • King Mohammed has condemned the bombings in the Egyptian tourist town of Dahab as "odious criminal aggressions". He sent a condolence message to President Hosni Mubarak, expressing his indignation and condemnation at these "cowardly" and "barbarous" acts, which claimed over 20 lives and injured many more. The monarch also expressed his "brotherly solidarity and compassion" with the Egyptian president and people.

  • Would-be immigrants rescued in Tangier

  • Some 16 illegal immigrants were rescued in the port of Tangier on Monday as they were suffocating inside a trailer that was transporting melon to the European market.

    The customs and port police discovered the illegal passengers, all Moroccans including a minor, hiding between boxes inside the Spanish-registered trailer, heading from the southern city of Agadir to the Spanish port of Algesiras.

    The would-be immigrants, including the Moroccan driver of the trailer, were evacuated to Tangier hospital. They were later handed over to local police for investigations.

    The would-be immigrants confessed they paid from USD150 to USD500 to a person who facilitated their access to the truck in Agadir.

  • Expulsion of Moroccan journalist from Madrid conference

  • Reporters without Borders (known by French acronym: RSF) strongly denounced the Spanish police "manu militari" expulsion of Maghreb Arabe Presse correspondent in Madrid, Said Ida Hassan, from a press conference on the Moroccan Sahara issue.

    "We were astounded by the attitude of the Spanish police forces in this issue," RSF wrote in a press release published on Tuesday. "We do not understand why the police denied access, for a public conference, to an accredited journalist who is perfectly in order."

    This April 21, Ida Hassan was denied access to a conference held in the Madrid Ateneo cultural center on the Moroccan Sahara issue.

    This issue opposes Morocco to the Algerian-backed separatist Polisario, which lays claims to Morocco's southern Sahara provinces.

    The Paris-based organization rejected the treatment as "unacceptable," requesting explanations from "the person in charge of the center, and from the Spanish authorities (...) about these less than democratic practices."

    The NGO deplored that “the journalist, as well as about ten human rights Sahrawi militants, were denied access to the conference venue, and were pushed by the Spanish a hundred meters far from the conference.”

    “Contacted many times by the Reporters, the Madrid Ateneo cultural center refused to give any commentary,” it noted.

  • Morocco one of Africas top internet users

  • Morocco is among the four African countries which count the biggest numbers of internet users in a continent where only 22 million people use the net.

    According to Reed Kramer, one of the founders and director of AllAfrica.com “It is only South Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Morocco which have a large numbers of internet users. However Africa is witnessing the fastest increase in the numbers of users in the world".

    Citing the figures of the institute of research and marketing ‘Internet World State', Kramer underlined that more than 22 million people use the net every hour in Africa, that is 2.5% of the 900 million people living in the continent. But, this number has increased by 400% since 2000.

    Reviews of Sandy McCutcheon's Novel

    Writing in Literarti, Oscar had this to say.

    For my money, one of the best things McCutcheon has written. Here's what the publishers and reviewers had to say.

    The first of September was a special day for schoolchildren in Beslan, traditionally celebrated as the ‘Day of Knowledge’. But after September 2004 the day would be remembered for all the wrong reasons, when a group of terrorists took hostages at Beslan’s School Number One …

    Real-life headlines have given Sandy McCutcheon the substance of a plot that wrestles with information and disinformation in a masterful telling of the betrayals of ordinary people caught in political conflict.

    Six teachers of children killed in the school siege - Fatima, Tatyana, Madina, Zoia, Katya, and Alina – have come together to plan a unique memorial for the dead hostages. In a gripping role-reversal, they have become the hostage-takers, and a group of the terrorists are at their mercy. But, as they come face to face with their arch enemies, each ‘black widow’ is forced to confront her own demons. What is justice? What price revenge? What price truth? Black Widow ratchets up the unbearable tension for an explosive showdown.

    A taut and compelling psychological thriller, Black Widow is an astonishing achievement.
    Scribe Publishers

    Black Widow - The Reviews


    'Would you be capable of killing to avenge the death of a child? A story like Beslan can seem so very far away. In Black Widow, McCutcheon brings it right up close in chilling, painful detail. The cleverly constructed plot will propel you through the pain of it. It's a taut psychological drama carefully written with compassion and empathy.'
    - Lucy Clark, Sunday Telegraph.

    Black Widow is one of the most moving and thought provoking books of the year, a psychological thriller that humanises a tragedy and examines the possible result of succumbing to the "eye-for-an-eye" urge that would pass through all victims. Beautifully paced and sensitively presented this is an outstanding novel.

    Australian Crime Fiction Database at www.crimedownunder.com.


    The Bottom Line: The Beslan School siege is the basis from which this beautifully told story of revenge comes. One of the books of the year.

    Full Review:

    "We have not survived Beslan. We are no longer the people we were before September the first. We are different people now. Deep in all of us, like deeply buried shrapnel, lies the legacy of those days. Like so many others, it has become part of who we are. We are Beslan."

    Sandy McCutcheon has taken a tragic real-life event and expanded it out into a fascinating "what-if" scenario that blurs the line between fact and fiction. The impotent feelings of rage that I should imagine are experienced by every victim of terrorism are given vent in Black Widow a tale that chronicles a carefully planned and executed act of revenge.

    This all-consuming need for revenge forms the basis for a deeply moving story that masterfully combines the details of the horrors inside the walls of a Beslan school with a gripping fictional response and the disturbing emotional fallout that followed. The terrifying and dramatic takeover of the Beslan Number One School by a group of Chechen terrorists in September 2004 saw over 1300 men, women and children taken hostage. Over the next 3 days were held in complete terror, some were executed, they were kept in the most trying of conditions on the gymnasium floor without water and were subjected to traumatic scenes that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. When the siege was finally ended by Russian soldiers, the lives of 1300 people had been changed forever.

    This fictional account is about six teachers who survived the horrors of the school massacre in Beslan and have put together a gripping memorial to honour the dead on the anniversary of the tragic event. Over three days they plan to remember the events that have scarred their lives, only this time, they're the ones who are going to be in control, they're the ones who would be heard, and they're the ones who will decide whether their captives will live or die.

    As part of their memorial, the six women have taken hostage 4 young people, 3 men and a woman, each of them a relative of the original terrorists. Over 3 gruelling days they carry out their carefully rehearsed plan, subjecting their hostages to a specific brand of torture in an attempt to purge themselves of 2 years worth of built up rage and hatred against their captors. But what the women aren't prepared for is the level of defiance and anger demonstrated by their captives.

    Filming themselves and their hostages, the teachers seek to recount their horrific experiences, putting their captive audience through the same deprivations and humiliations that they suffered. It's an extremely moving experience and is designed to allow the teachers to feel as though they have achieved some form of justice, but they find that justice is not an easy state to achieve.

    Though the process is supposed to be a healing one, once the memories are recalled, the women find themselves battling to survive all over again. This time they've got to escape from themselves. It's an emotionally harrowing story that I found deeply moving making what had previously been simply a news story from the other side of the world into a much more personal and moving tragedy.

    Fatima, Tatyana, Madina, Zoia, Katya and Alina carry out their plan with an efficiency that begins with an outward calm that belies the immense emotion that they feel inside. They are scarred both inside and out and are all itching to get at their hostages, wanting to make them feel their pain. Each of the women are explored, their background, their specialities and, now, the way they have been affected after Beslan.

    Black Widow is a methodical recounting of the events that took place on September 1, 2004, only now these events are being paced by the memorial 2 years later. Minute for minute the women pay their respects to the dead and try to explain the pain and suffering to their captives, in fact, they'd like nothing better than to have their captives suffer the way they did.

    McCutcheon has poured immense measures of emotion into his story. Katya, the story's narrator is a noted storyteller and it's through her lectures and anecdotes told to the captives that we gain a true idea of just how deeply they have been marked. Their need to hurt in retaliation exudes from each of the women, in their words and actions with stinging barbs and promises of a cruel death designed to strike fear in their hostage's hearts.

    In my opinion Black Widow is one of the most moving and thought provoking books of the year, a psychological thriller that humanises a tragedy and examines the possible result of succumbing to the "eye-for-an-eye" urge that would pass through all victims. Beautifully paced and sensitively presented this is an outstanding novel.

    Out of interest, "the Black Widows" is the name given to the female terrorists who sit amongst the hostages with explosives strapped to their bodies. Should a rescue attempt be made or the hostages attempt to attack or escape, these explosives may be detonated either by the woman herself or by one of the other terrorists.

    Crimedownunder.com

    Six female teachers who survived the Beslan school massacre by Chechen terrorists in 2004 that ended with 331 people dead – half of them children – decide on a terrible act of revenge and justice. They dress in the same black garb as the terrorists and take the sons and a daughter of the terrorists hostage. While a camera rolls they retell the horrors of what happened inside the school, moment by moment, in front of the hostages. ABC presenter McCutcheon narrates a taut psychological drama that challenges notions of revenge and justice – Frank Walker – Sun Herald

    Each of Katya's moments to camera prompts a flashback on her part to the tragic turn of events in Beslan, which, to McCutcheon's credit, are vividly rendered. With the outcome already known, it's testimony to an artful narrative structure that one feels compelled to read on given such confronting revelations about events that we know to be true.

    As the action alternates between the deteriorating situations in the hangar in the forest and the school, time begins to run out, prompting the question, will the teachers of Beslan carry out their terrible revenge? There are no guarantees.

    In Black Widow, McCutcheon takes political events of the recent past and gives them an immediate human dimension. The fact that his focus is primarily on the women and children caught up in a war about power is understandable and worthy. The book evokes a strong sense of moral outrage and compassion.

    Sue Turnbull - Sydney Morning Herald

    McCutcheon is on a literary roll. After a spate of excellent thrillers he published one of the best memoirs of 2005, The Magician’s Son, and now follows that up with a timely compelling novel based on the 2004 Beslan massacre... an intense psychological drama.
    – Phil Brown - Brisbane News

    More on Fez

    Fes, which duelled with Marrakech for centuries for primacy in the Arabic Morocco state, is less comfortable than its rival, which is not to say that our stay there was bereft of modest luxury. We put up in a splendid riad called La Maison Bleue in rooms hardly changed since the owner’s grandmother lived in them.

    Dinner was served in the covered courtyard to the accompaniment of live Moroccan music. A dozen dishes of delicious cooked vegetables were typically followed by pastilla (the fish one even better than the pigeon) or couscous and then the ubiquitous tajine.

    The local Moroccan wines were part of the deal: a drinkable Semillon and a better Cabernet du President; which president I never discovered.

    In hotter weather this riad’s sister establishment, Maison Bleue Le Riad, may be a better bet; it has a spa and swimming pool and a great view over the walls of the old city up to the Merenid Tombs.

    It is worth scrambling up to this landmark, or taking a taxi, to get a clear idea of the lie of the land in Fes. The medieval “citadel of fanaticism” (as it was called) is in front of you in the pear-shaped bowl of the Sebou valley; off to the right is the new quarter built by the French and beyond that the road to Casablanca where the young Arab Amar in Bowles’s novel is finally abandoned by the Americans who had discovered him with all his quaint and savage cultural traits.

    Much of The Spider’s House follows Amar through the labyrinthine Fes as he hunts and is, in his turn, hunted.

    That the city has been preserved owes much to the French resident- ­general Louis-Hurbert Lyautey in the last days of colonial rule there and subsequently to Unesco. Fes was saved from the fate of so many cities in developing countries where, in a paradoxical gesture of national independence, so much local architecture is demolished to be replaced by pastiche Western.

    Exploring the narrow streets of Fes leaves lingering memories – the stink of horse and donkey piss, the perfect pyramids of ground spices (yellow, red, orange and blue), the butchers’ shops with lines of sheep heads giving you an understandably doleful look, the tanneries and leather shops with piles of yellow babouches, the occasional visit to a medersa – the colleges of the ancient university – with their intricate wood carvings and blue tiles, and the evening roost of storks and alpine swifts on their rooftops.

    Fes is not dangerous but it does seem alien, and in January the cultural difference is enhanced by the sheep being led into the city to have their throats cut by every family that can afford to buy one for the feast of Aid El Kabir, commemorating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac.

    Bowles captures all this in a novel set in the dying days of French colonialism. Gertrude Stein described him as “a manufactured savage”.

    Dwelling himself on the frontier between sophistication and barbarism, Bowles is the perfect eye-witness to the Hobbesian world that he believes we all inhabit whatever our imagined civilised superiority. As Francine Prose observes in her excellent introduction to the edition of The Spider’s House published by Ecco, Bowles’s fiction is “the last place you would go for hope, or even for faint reassurance that the world is anything but a horror show, a barbaric Darwinian battlefield.”

    Bowles is far more relevant to today’s discussions about clashing civilisations and the roots of terrorism than others regularly cited, such as Joseph Conrad. One activist in the novel notes the efficiency of violence in gaining American attention. Amar himself contemplates the difference between political Islam and jihadism – “they saw . . .  factories and power plants rising from the fields . . . he saw skies of flame, the wings of avenging angels, and total destruction”.

    He understands the terrorist’s grim compensations not of accomplishing a specific political aim but “of seeing others undergo the humiliation of suffering and dying . . . If you could not have freedom, you could still have vengeance, and that was all anyone really wanted now”.

    Bowles clearly believed that we all – not just non-Moslems – live in the frail surroundings of a spider’s house and what others may take as his great insights into different cultures he clearly regards as so much nothingness. He presages the first part of his novel with the ‘Song of the Owl’ from The Thousand and One Nights: “I have understood that the world is a vast emptiness built upon emptiness . . . And so they call me the master of wisdom. Alas! Does anyone know what wisdom is?”