Sex and Lies

'Striking.' - ELLE France
'Brave.' - iNews
'Powerful.' - TLS
'Urgent.' - Evening Standard
'Original.' - Cosmopolitan

In these essays, Leila Slimani gives voice to young Moroccan women who are grappling with a conservative Arab culture that at once condemns and commodifies sex. In a country where the law punishes and outlaws all forms of sex outside marriage, as well as homosexuality and prostitution, women have only two options for their sexual identities: virgin or wife. Sex and Lies is an essential confrontation with Morocco's intimate demons and a vibrant appeal for the universal freedom to be, to love and to desire.

'Leila Slimani has a knack for breaking taboos. . . Sex and Lies is well executed: the novelist paints vivid portraits of her interviewees.' - The Times

'Slimani trusts in her outrage, in the force of her own voice, and the voices of the women she listens to.' - Guardian