Richard & Judy Introduce Night Train to Marrakech by Dinah Jefferies

There is beautiful writing in this book: Dinah Jefferies’s description of Marrakech is quite bewitching: it makes you want to jump on a plane to Morocco’s Menara airport and take the ten-minute taxi ride into the heart of this amazing place. But the story Jefferies weaves in and around Marrakech will capture you just as powerfully – a young woman – Vicky Baudin - searching for the truth about her grandmother, Clemence, and why she gave Vicky’s father up for adoption decades earlier. It’s a story of dark secrets, danger, and brutal murder. Come to the kasbah… you’ll love it.

Richard's Review:

Judy and I spent time in Marrakech a few years ago, and Dinah Jefferies’s gorgeous writing has captured the physical beauty of the place and its unique atmosphere better than anyone else I have ever read. Honestly, you’ll want to fly there and discover it yourself at the first opportunity.

So much for the setting – the ancient, sun-bleached buildings; the towering, snow-capped Atlas Mountains; the fragrant air and the impossibly delicious food. We have quite a story to set against this sunlit backdrop, too.

We are in 1960s Marrakech. A young woman, Vicky Baudin, is travelling to meet her estranged grandmother, Clemence. We find Vicky stepping onto the night train through Morocco on a journey to discover the truth. Why, decades earlier, did Clemence give her son, Vicky’s father, up for adoption?

We are in 1960s Marrakech. It may seem an innocent quest for knowledge. Soon, it will turn into an incredibly dangerous one.

Judy's Review:

Clemence Petier lives in a kasbah (a traditional fortified home built of mud-brick) on the edge of Marrakech and in the foothills of the stunning, snow-capped Atlas Mountains. She is not quite a recluse, but she has kept herself remote and largely hidden away for years. Why? And why is her background so difficult to establish? It’s shrouded in mystery.

The reason, of course, is rooted in secrets; deeply-buried secrets from the past. But now the present inserts itself with shocking violence into the lives of grandmother and granddaughter: there is a brutal murder and the old woman and the young girl must join forces. But Clemence remains determined to keep her own dark secret hidden away. What is she hiding? Why does it still matter?

A complex, beautifully woven story with deeply engaging characters. Enjoy.