The latest addition to my website is Mohamedou Ould Salahi‘s The Actual True Story of Ahmed and Zarga. Mohamedou Ould Salahi is best-known for having been unjustly imprisoned in Guantánamo for fourteen years but this novel, which he wrote in English, has nothing to do with his imprisonment. Indeed, no Westerners appear in it at all. It recounts the tale of a camel herder, Ahmed, between the world wars, who loses a camel and his hunt across the Sahara for her. We learn of his many adventures, from a poisonous viper to cannibals but also both the hardships of the Sahara and the camaraderie of the nomads. It is a very fine story as we follow not only his colourful adventures, but learn of his past, the past of his family and of his tribe.