Vox Humana To Publish "Stealing Fatima's Hand" this XMAS - Zany Moroccan Travel Guide

Carolyn A. Thériault: Stealing Fatima’s Hand – A Moroccan Sojourn
Release Date: February 2010
ISBN: 978-965-7504-00-0 338 pages
For review copies, pre-sale information and discounts please contact: publisher@voxhumana-books.com
Check out the book trailer at www.voxhumana-books.com

“ …Finally a grand taxi stopped and offered to take us to the train station for the unbelievably low fare of twenty dirham, so unbelievably low, that I was not a little disappointed when the driver didn’t rob us, slit our throats, and dump our bodies into the Strait of Gibraltar… “

Stealing Fatima’s Hand is an unforgettable collection of interconnected narratives presenting an alternative view of Morocco – a country not of labyrinthine alleys, Kasbahs, and smoky tea rooms – but a more madcap Morocco, one left to be discovered after all the coach tours depart.

Imagine the impossible: one finds oneself in a heady and mysterious locale on the edge of North Africa, a country replete with colorful characters, incomprehensible customs and taboos, a spoken language lacking an alphabet, often frustrating religious practices and, in spite of all this capital ‘E’ exoticism, one still doesn’t want to marry a local? Or turn a decrepit ryad into a boutique hotel? Or write for the travel page in the Sunday paper? Carolyn Thériault does more than imagine it.
After making a rather drunken New Year’s Resolution to toss aside their conventional lifestyle and pension plans, Carolyn, a somewhat cynical, snarky ex-pat and self-proclaimed square-peg, with her photographer husband Chris decide to walk away from their comfortable jobs in the Land of the Round Doorknobs (Canada) to travel the world. Because their long-suffering attempts at financial independence (weekly lottery tickets) have not borne any fruit, the only apparent means to rectify this situation they believe is to teach English overseas. And Morocco seems to fit the bill. But does it?
Unconventional and candid – Stealing Fatima’s Hand stands out as an irreverent black sheep in the literary travel genre, succeeding in undoing for Morocco everything that Peter Mayle has done for Provence. The book spans two years of Carolyn’s experiences in Rabat, where with humor and honesty she struggles with Moroccan bureaucracy, sexual harassment, the threat of terrorism, devious students, randy co-teachers, and the temptation of having French pastries washed down with gin & tonics for every meal. All this in a country, where apart from her, the only vegetarians are the sheep and the goats.


About The Author

Canadian born essayist and novelist, Carolyn Thériault currently resides in Turkey where she is at work upon her second book and a number of other print and other media projects. As a photographer, Ms. Thériault also keeps a somewhat nostalgic eye on the diminishing minarets, muezzins, medinas and mashrabiyyas of North Africa. Her travel photographs are currently in the collections of corporate and private patrons in Europe, Asia, North America, and New Zealand may be viewed at www.urbancaravan.com
About Vox Humana Books
Vox Humana Books is an independent, small literary publisher founded in 2009 at Toronto, Canada and Kfar Sava, Israel. The press maintains a strong focus on the publication of works by new and established international, Canadian, American, Israeli, Palestinian and other Middle-Eastern writers and artists. Vox Humana Books will be debuting in the Fall of 2010 with a number of quality titles in fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Vox Humana Books unique emphasis is on disseminating creative work which adheres to the principles of the “Human Voice” in content, form and without intentional racism and discrimination, regardless of any inherent artistic or political messaging by the writer or artist themselves. We believe there is room for all differing opinions and stories that can be related while still veering away from the propagation of deliberate anti-life, inhuman diatribe.