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Diane Johnson - Lulu in Marrakech

Kepler's Bookstore

October 8, 2008

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The two-time Pulitzer Prize– and three-time National Book Award–nominated author of the bestseller Le Divorce returns with a mesmerizing novel of double standards and double agents. Lulu Sawyer, the heroine of Diane Johnson’s captivating new novel, arrives in Marrakech, Morocco, hoping to rekindle her romance with a worldly Englishman, Ian Drumm. It’s the perfect cover for her assignment with the American CIA: tracing the flow of money from well-heeled donors to radical Islamic groups. While spending her days poolside among Europeans, in villas staffed by local maids in abayas, and her nights at lively dinner parties, Lulu observes the fragile coexistence of two cultures. Beneath the surface of this polite expatriate community lies a more sinister world laced not only with double standards, but with double agents.

Lulu’s mission ultimately has tragic consequences, but along the way readers will fall in love with this endearing young woman as she improvises her way through the souk, her love life, and her profession. As in her previous novels, Diane Johnson weaves a dazzling tale in the great tradition of works about naive Americans abroad and the laws of unintended consequences.

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• Ticket Info

  Tickets: Free

  Info Phone: 650-324-4321

• Dates & Times

  Dates:
  October 8, 2008

  Times:
  7:30pm

• Venue Info

  Kepler's Books

  1010 El Camino Real Menlo Park, CA 94025

  Full map and directions

• Parking Info

  Free underground and nearby street parking.

• Accessibility Info

  • Wheelchair Access

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  • Event Name: Diane Johnson - Lulu in Marrakech
    "What Marrakech is she talking about?"
    Review posted by: DanaS from Marrakech, Oct 18, 2008
    

    I’m an American who has lived in Marrakech for 30 years and I’m wondering what Marrakech the author is talking about? She passes off a mish-mash of foods, traditions, names and clothing from other... Expand

    I’m an American who has lived in Marrakech for 30 years and I’m wondering what Marrakech the author is talking about? She passes off a mish-mash of foods, traditions, names and clothing from other parts of the Islamic world that have nothing to do with Morocco. There are so many factual errors—there’s no Moroccan dish called poulet au poivres rouges, no raisins in a pigeon pastilla, and no goats in the trees on the Casablanca road, to name a few—that I couldn’t help wondering if the author was going to set her story in Marrakech, why didn’t she take the trouble to get the details right? There are also many irresponsible inaccuracies in her descriptions of relations between Muslims and Christians that just add to the misunderstandings that already exist between us and the Islamic world. If you want to get an authentic look at life in Marrakech, read another book: “Zohra’s Ladder & other Moroccan Tales.” Collapse

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