Dreams From The Endz

24-year-old AhlŠme (her name means 'dream' in Arabic) lives with her father, The Boss. He is half the man he was, since an accident on his building site stopped him working. Then there's AhlŠme's brother, 16-year-old Foued, excluded from school and getting drawn into the world of drug-dealing on Uprising Estate. AhlŠme battles with her family, the struggles and queues that come with being an immigrant, and the guilt-trips of distant relatives 'back home'. But when she returns - after a ten-year absence - to the country where her mother was massacred at a village wedding, she brokers a kind of truce, both with her homeland, and with the need to forge a future. Along the way, she stamps on that mythical version of Metropolitan France, a desperate fabrication put out by economic and political migrants and readily bought into by those left behind in Algeria. Guene explores what happens to people when a lid is put on their dreams, and acknowledges that, in very different ways, hope is being stifled on both sides of the Mediterranean.

Dreams from the Endz is an extraordinary achievement: outspoken and sobering but - crucially - laced with hallmark wit. Faiza Guene illuminates the impact of politics on everyday lives, acting as the nation's eyes and ears in places many would never dare to go, weaving unforgettable tales across barriers.