An unknown man on a motorbike is terrorizing the city by attacking women's backsides with his scalpel. The streets are torn apart by ugly repairs. Ibn Khaldun, the statue in the midst of the ruins, suffocates under dust and grows weary of witnessing the ugliness being crafted. Persecuted roses and suicidal birds protest. Mules give birth to mutants that fly, while inferior minds are devoured. A new morality police arises, pursuing lovers in parks and cemeteries. From these cemeteries and from poor dough factories, characters emerge seeking the crime's secret and narrating Khadija's story. Deviants, tricksters, open and pillaged faces, and an aging prostitute lament the burden of defeat, questioning the shattered revolutionaries: Where will we sleep tonight? Kamal Al-Riahi is a Tunisian novelist and journalist. He won the 'Beirut 39' competition organized by the Hay Festival in 2009. His novel 'The Scalpel' received the 2007 Golden Comar Award for the best Tunisian novel. He has published works such as 'Seagulls of Memory,' 'Stolen Face,' 'The Movement of Narrative Fiction and Its Atmospheres,' 'Narrative Writing by Wassini Al-A'raj,' and 'Thus Spoke Philippe Lejeune.' His works have been translated into French, Italian, English, Hebrew, and Portuguese. His novel 'The Gorilla' was published by Dar Al Saqi.

• Publishing house: Dar Al Saqi for Publishing and Distribution
• Number of Pages: 160
• Year of publication: 2012