Now regarded as a classic that was published initially in English in 1973 after being banned by the Moroccan government, and only in Arabic in 1982, it broke all taboos in the Arab world, being a stark autobiographical novel of a young street kid’s struggle to survive and get an education. At that time no other Arab author had written so openly about the outsiders of society, the prostitutes, gays, the destitute, the thieves and conmen.