Belt, The

This first novel by a Saudi author written in French is a story of growing up in a small Saudi village steeped in traditional tribal culture, local legends, family ties, history, and tribal songs, told through the eyes of young Ahmed. As he becomes a man, the cataclysmic changes of modernity spring up around him. Islam is imposing itself more and more strongly on tribal beliefs and Ahmed struggles to come to terms with these changes without forsaking his village, family or Hizam, the old man who comes to epitomise the traditional life itself.