The novella and eight short stories that constitute Year of the Elephant--an allusion to a battle described in the Qur'an--serve as an eloquent representation of life in the wake of Morocco's successful struggle for independence from French occupation. In the titular novella the protagonist, Zahra, has just returned to her hometown after being divorced by her husband for being too traditional and unable to keep up with his modern way of life. Having devoted herself, alongside her husband, to the creation of an independent Morocco, she had expected to share the fruits of...