An autobiographical novel by turn na?ve and cunning, funny and moving, this most recent work by Moroccan expatriate Abdellah Ta?a is a major addition tothe new French literature emerging from the North African Arabic diaspora. SalvationArmy is a coming-of-age novel that tells the story of Ta?a's life with completedisclosure--from a childhood bound by family order and latent (homo)sexual tensionsin the poor city of Sal?, through an adolescence in Tangier charged by the youngwriter's attraction to his eldest brother, to a disappointing arrival in the Westernworld to study in Geneva in adulthood. In so doing, Salvation Army manages to burnthrough the author's first-person singularity to embody the complex m?lange of fearand desire projected by Arabs on Western culture. Recently hailed by his nativecountry's press as "the first Moroccan to have the courage to publicly asserthis difference," Ta?a, through his calmly transgressive work, has"outed" himself as "the only gay man" in a country whosetheocratic law still declares homosexuality a crime. The persistence of prejudiceson all sides of the Mediterranean and Atlantic makes the translation of Ta?a's workboth a literary and political event. The arrival of Salvation Army (published inFrench in 2006) in English will be welcomed by an American audience already familiarwith a growing cadre of talented Arab writers working in French (including MuhammadDib, Assia Djebar, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Abdelkebir Khatibi, and Katib Yasin).