Young Moroccans gather regularly in a seafront cafe to gaze at the lights on the Spanish coast glimmering in the distance. Azel, the protagonist, is intent on leaving in one way or another. On the brink of despair he meets Miguel, a wealthy Spanish gallery owner who promises to take him to Barcelona if Azel will become his lover.

'It is a novel all the more urgently needed for being so lucid and involving, and a tribute to the author's great talent that he transcends these many torn destinies and leaves the reader with a valuable sense that his characters' lives may not have been in vain, because they have taught him something.' Guardian

'Leaving Tangier is a brave, unflinching look at the issues underlying economic migration from North Africa, and the hard choices people make between roots and wings.' Economist