Gold Dust by Ibrahim al-Koni

Gold Dust

Ibrahim al-Koni

Many years ago I was impressed by a Kirk Douglas movie in which an individual man and animal pitted themselves against the 'civilised' mechanised world. In Gold Dust the human protagonist is a young Saharan Tuareg not a middle-aged cowboy but I was just as impressed. Highly recommended for anyone wishing to learn about a vanishing culture.

Extract
That is the way of this world. It is the cowards who always remain to sweep up the spoils, and it was Ukhayyad's bad fortune to have placed himself in their way. They would not sleep a single night until they had torn him limb from limb, until they had blotted him out for good. Flecks of gold dust were they desired. That vile gold dust. It was the cause of everything that had happened. It was the gold dust that had murdered Dudu, not Ukhayyad.
Parallels
  • Lonely Are the Brave - the film
  • Anubis: a Desert Novel by Ibrahim al-Koni
  • The Attack by Yasmin Khadra
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Violence
Explicit sexual Content