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Morocco
In this intricate tale, a woman untangles her enduring bond with an heiress who she is still trying to understand…
Chicago, the turn of the 21st century. Our narrator—always there and never entirely present—recounts her decades-long relationship with the heiress, Katherine Stern. Through the years since boarding school, she has seen Katherine as a daughter who wants for nothing but respect from her psychotherapist father, as a woman with a kind, but fortune-hunting fiancée, and as a mystery even more confounding than the gothic horror stories she evaluates from the slush pile at her job. Sometimes, despite their estrangement, she has even seen Katherine as a friend.
Inspired by the classic story Washington Square by Henry James, Norah Labiner reimagines the prolific tale. Moving through wintery Michigan avenue to the creeping mansions of the rich to the world of melodrama, ghosts, and girls. Morocco confronts the ambiguity of memory, the horrors of history, and what it means, or does not mean, to read a book and tell a story.
Chicago, the turn of the 21st century. Our narrator—always there and never entirely present—recounts her decades-long relationship with the heiress, Katherine Stern. Through the years since boarding school, she has seen Katherine as a daughter who wants for nothing but respect from her psychotherapist father, as a woman with a kind, but fortune-hunting fiancée, and as a mystery even more confounding than the gothic horror stories she evaluates from the slush pile at her job. Sometimes, despite their estrangement, she has even seen Katherine as a friend.
Inspired by the classic story Washington Square by Henry James, Norah Labiner reimagines the prolific tale. Moving through wintery Michigan avenue to the creeping mansions of the rich to the world of melodrama, ghosts, and girls. Morocco confronts the ambiguity of memory, the horrors of history, and what it means, or does not mean, to read a book and tell a story.
- GenresFiction
240 pages, Paperback
Published September 22, 2026
About the author
Norah Labiner
7 books23 followersAcclaimed for her ability to write "heartbreaking and vastly original tale[s] of literary intrigue." (Time Out New York), Norah Labiner's debut novel, Our Sometime Sister, was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award. Her second novel, Miniatures, was an American Library Association Notable Book, a Minnesota Book Award winner, and a selection for both the Minnesota Monthly and Utne Reader book clubs. She lives in Minneapolis."
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I really enjoyed this but I have been pondering about how to review this. It took me a few pages to get into this, but once I did it really flowed for me. The format of the book was a bit different, almost like a stream of thoughts beautifully written with very delicate, descriptive prose. It is not full of action but subtle and still tense as we work our way through the book. I liked this almost whimsical feel about the story.
Although the book is about Katherine Stern and her Father, it is told by a narrator, an outsider looking in and telling the reader the tales. At some point I wondered how much of this was true, was the narrator even present all of the time. If she wasn't present how can the narrator really be telling this story. And the story is about Katherine, who is wealthy. She is pursued by a man called Erza, who is a fortune hunter and a bit of a chancer. Katherine's father believes that Erza is only interested in Katherine for her money and tries to put challenges and difficulties in the way to test them.
There is a lot going on in the story. The back story of the Father is really fascinating and I would have liked a bit more about this. The characters were so wonderful to meet. I loved the Aunt who went to stay with Katherine and her Father and never left! But you never truly know who is telling the truth.
There is a very tense and often dark atmosphere which I enjoyed. There are twists and unexpected turns that brought drama to the novel. You do get swept away with the story and then you are jolted into reality that the narrator isn't writing the story, the author is.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this unusual and great book. I really enjoyed it.
Although the book is about Katherine Stern and her Father, it is told by a narrator, an outsider looking in and telling the reader the tales. At some point I wondered how much of this was true, was the narrator even present all of the time. If she wasn't present how can the narrator really be telling this story. And the story is about Katherine, who is wealthy. She is pursued by a man called Erza, who is a fortune hunter and a bit of a chancer. Katherine's father believes that Erza is only interested in Katherine for her money and tries to put challenges and difficulties in the way to test them.
There is a lot going on in the story. The back story of the Father is really fascinating and I would have liked a bit more about this. The characters were so wonderful to meet. I loved the Aunt who went to stay with Katherine and her Father and never left! But you never truly know who is telling the truth.
There is a very tense and often dark atmosphere which I enjoyed. There are twists and unexpected turns that brought drama to the novel. You do get swept away with the story and then you are jolted into reality that the narrator isn't writing the story, the author is.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this unusual and great book. I really enjoyed it.
September 25, 2026
A reimagining of the literary classic Henry James’ novel Washington Square, although the names have been changed. Set in Chicago at the turn of the 21st century and narrated by an unnamed woman who first met heiress, Katherine Stern, at boarding school and whose life appears to have been a party to events in Katherine’s life. Written in very descriptive terms and with a gothic vibe this a quite a short read.
Briefly, Katherine lives in a mansion that seems frozen in time, with her doctor father who is a psychoanalyst and her widowed aunt Marguerite Lazarus who everyone calls Daisy. Her mother died in a boating accident along with Katherine’s grandparents. Ezra Washington has champagne taste on a beer budget. He loves the highlife but is pretty much penniless so a wealthy heiress in the guise of Katharine is manna from heaven, particularly when she falls for him. But her father is determined to end the relationship.
Like a lot of literary fiction there isn’t much of a plot and it moves slowly but that suits this story. I’ve seen the 1949 film The Heiress more than once, which was based on the original book, so I did find myself seeing that in my head as I was reading which was not necessarily a good thing. The narrator is almost a ghostly presence and there is a big twist at the end that I wasn’t expecting. All in all I enjoyed this fascinating and at time dark story.
Briefly, Katherine lives in a mansion that seems frozen in time, with her doctor father who is a psychoanalyst and her widowed aunt Marguerite Lazarus who everyone calls Daisy. Her mother died in a boating accident along with Katherine’s grandparents. Ezra Washington has champagne taste on a beer budget. He loves the highlife but is pretty much penniless so a wealthy heiress in the guise of Katharine is manna from heaven, particularly when she falls for him. But her father is determined to end the relationship.
Like a lot of literary fiction there isn’t much of a plot and it moves slowly but that suits this story. I’ve seen the 1949 film The Heiress more than once, which was based on the original book, so I did find myself seeing that in my head as I was reading which was not necessarily a good thing. The narrator is almost a ghostly presence and there is a big twist at the end that I wasn’t expecting. All in all I enjoyed this fascinating and at time dark story.
September 6, 2026
This was unfortunately a really tough read. The actual writing felt very simple & basic. The format felt like an attempt to be creative but really just disrupted the flow of the book. I never really connected emotionally to anyone in the book, for a book that is character driven, that’s a big problem. I also felt like I was always waiting for more. This was a slog for me & just unsatisfying.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
As boring as the sands of Morocco. Not a place, character, or setting of interest to be seen anywhere in these pages.
Review of advance copy
A great Jewish American novel in the tradition of Bellow and Roth.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews