Maps of the Soul

Othman al-Sheikh is running away from the shadows of his past life in a small dusty village in the Libyan Desert. Tripoli, meanwhile, is a city in the process of transformation, moulded to the will of its Italian colonisers. Its decadent entertainments and extravagant riches conceal an underbelly of poverty and ruthless scheming. Othman falls for the city and its temptations. With a natural instinct for survival, he tries his luck in the capital, swept along by chance and opportunity.

Set in the early 1930s, Maps of the Soul takes us on a journey into a different Libya, a country emerging from resistance wars and presided over by the charismatic Italian colonialist Italo Balbo who dreams of a new Rome on The Fourth...