The House on Butterfly Street

by Mhani Alaoui

In a country where the precarious rights of women and children can be reversed in an instant, legacies of enslavement and quiet resistance still reverberate across time.

Present-day Casablanca, Nadine Alam, a physician by training and housewife by choice, has reached her hour of reckoning. Her marriage has broken down, her teenage daughter Al has retreated into silence, and now her young housekeeper Ghalia has disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

One morning, Nadine receives an envelope from an unidentified sender. Inside it is a newspaper clipping, an article about a single mother and her newborn child, a boy named Noor —typically a name given to girls, meaning light . Nadine’s country is one where single mothers and children born out of wedlock are considered pariahs, outside the protection of the law. Why would a journalist disclose the child’s name? And why was she sent this clipping? Nadine embarks on a search that takes her into a Casablanca she barely knew existed, into her own family’s history and her country’s past, in which her family is entwined.

A vivid, kaleidoscopic portrait of a Casablanca household.

Genres: Social Justice, Morocco

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 2023

Reviews

[Zoha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was…okay. Near the end I was rushing to finish because I was over it. The writing at times is good but other times feels rushed, like when characters have sudden epiphanies seemingly out of nowhere. I wish there was a more compelling character or a deeper dive into one character so I could delve into their story and perhaps be more invested.

[K. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Remind me to review after I graduate.

[Reader Views · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The House on Butterfly Street” is the newest work from Mhani Alaoui, Moroccan novelist and anthropologist. This novel follows the story of Nadine, a physician turned housewife who is experiencing a loveless marriage, and a daughter, Al, who has stopped speaking. It all comes to a head when Nadine’s young housekeeper, Ghalia, disappears without warning or trace. Driven by her curiosity and the appearance of a newspaper clipping from a mysterious sender, Nadine dives into the underbelly of Casablanca in search of a young mother and her newborn. There she finds more than she ever expected.

Alaoui explores the inner workings and intimate lives of the women in her story. The reader can follow Nadine on her journey, filled with sick anticipation of what they will find. Over the course of Nadine’s story, we discover the layers of her family history and the women who came before her. This is paralleled by the lives and histories of the women around her, including the other housekeepers and servants. Each woman has a long legacy of pain and strength, showing the full scope of their characters. Alaoui switches between linear and non-linear storytelling, using the different parts of the book to focus on different aspects of the story.

The first three parts of this novel follow Nadine in her journey to find Ghalia, occurring over the course of a day and introducing the other players in Ghalia’s disappearance. There is a straightforward, almost clinical aspect to the storytelling here. Everything is presented in a matter-of-fact style, with the characters’ inner thoughts and struggles explored at each interval. Part four serves as more of a character study, taking us once again through the story we have just witnessed and exposing the roles and experiences of every character involved from Nadine’s household, which is, namely, all of them. Alaoui shows her prowess with character study through this section, and in many ways, it is stronger than the actual telling of the plot.

The final section of the book revisits Nadine in the present as she faces the sins and hauntings in her own home and makes the needed change to stop the cycle of abuse in which she and the other women and men in her life are trapped. Alaoui excels when exploring her characters and building their stories. Because of this, part four really shines as a place to dig into the characters and see the complicated backdrop of modern Morocco candidly explored. For readers who like seeing an in-depth study of society and characters, “The House on Butterfly Street” by Mhani Alaoui will be a resounding favorite.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is complex, but the Arabic style of writing emphasizes telling the story, rather than showing and letting the reader experience the character's responses to the various situations. Because I felt outside as more of an observer, I rated a 3 for enjoyment.

The book does give a complex sense of life in Casablanca and Moroccan culture, which is still greatly influenced by an extremely patriarchal society that also had a tradition of female bondage to a home. Female slaves worked as domestics in a home, and in the current day a version of that still exists where the homeowner keeps the passport of the immigrant domestic they hire for pay, but the woman is trapped and cannot leave as a result. I've seen this reported on in Saudi Arabia, but it seems to be more widespread.

I liked that the author investigated the effects of male domination on many different women in this story. Because an inheritance cannot go to daughters, there is a tremendous pressure on women to bear a son. This applies even to educated women, such as the female doctor, Nadine. Men can abandon wives and female children through divorce and not support them, leaving them destitute, so wives will often put up with abusive behavior because they have so few options.

Women attend college, but they often find difficulties if they become too smart for their own good, and there were vigilante groups that kept college students, women pregnant out of wedlock, and others in line through extreme violence. The story showed that change is very slowly happening, but these cultural norms prevent the society from giving the same options to women that it does to men. I also appreciated the descriptions of different neighborhoods in Casablanca, which allowed the reader to get a sense of how people from different classes live.

The importance of these topics rates a 5 for me, so it averages out to a 4.

[Moushine Zahr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first novel I've read from Moroccan author Mhani Alaoui and definitely want to read her first 2 novels, not yet published in Morocco. It is refreshing for Moroccan readers to read such a great fiction about Moroccan issues. In this book, the main story and all sub-stories are about women issues from past and current times, from History and its impacts on Today.
The first parts of the book is about the lead story of a young woman who had a child out of wedlock and the search for her by her former employer trying to uncover the truths about her, her family.
The second parts of the book, the author details the story and character of women in her main story and how each one reacted differently to it.
The story is set in modern time in Casablanca, but takes you in every neighborhoods and in various times from early 20th century and today. The city of Casablanca is also a main character of the main story as each neighborhood has its own story to tell to readers. The author described realistically and accurately the cities within the city of Casablanca.
An excellent novel to read.

[HadiDee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an enjoyable story but so well written, with the gift of getting under the skin of every character, so there is understanding and sympathy, even if no liking - for them all

[Heidi Herriott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this engaging read. Gave a glimpse of a countries flaws and struggles.

[Karima · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a novel set in present -day Casablanca, Morocco. The story revolves around
Nadine who faces a series of personal and societal challenges. Her marriage has
broken, her teenager daughter Al has retreated into silence in addition to her
young housekeeper Ghalia who has disappeared.
Nadine receives an enveloppe containing a newspaper clipping about a single
mother and her newborn child child that incites her to embark in a search that
leads her into a Casablanca she barely knew existed. A journey that takes her
into her own family’s history and her country’s past, revealing the intertwined
legacies of enslavement.
The novel offers a vivid image of Casablanca and explores themes like family,
identity, and social norms.
The author provides a sharp analysis of moroccan society and raises the thorny
issue of single mothers and children born out of wedlock. Mhani Alaoui wittingly
portrays social injustice through each of the characters’ life stories. She also
addresses the problem of African immigrant workers in Morocco. All the themes
of the novel are relevant to contemporary Morocco.

[John Horniblow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mhani Alaoui's bold and beautifully written The House on Butterfly Street is an excellent read. A rich and multi layered story the presents a secreted world where the realities of servitude, the rights of women and for that matter children, class and the power of the patriarchy and one of the dark sides of the history of Morocco are resolutely revealed and defined. A contemporary, compassionate and gripping story that not only vividly guides you into the lives of it's characters but the through the varied and distinctive quartier of Casablanca. Each a time capsule of the city and country's history, and the very people who inhabit them and their everyday socio-economic realities. I found myself wanting to go out and find Rue des Papillons ( Butterfly Street ) so I could imagine and picture the lives and secrets of the people living there. A most compelling read from it's start to it's shocking conclusion that had me engaged from the very first page.