The events of the novel unfold in Tunisia during the tumultuous late 1980s and early 1990s, and examine the political clashes between leftists and Islamists and the forces that brought Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali to power.[1][5] The novel won the prestigious International Prize for Arabic Fiction (often called the "Arab Booker prize"), which was awarded in Abu Dhabi despite the book being banned in the Emirates.[6]