Marrakesh is the drum that beats an African rythmn into the complex soul of Morocco. There has never been a more instantly exotic destination for it is like a dream landscape; in the background the steel blue of the High Atlas mountains with their snowy tops, then a hint of the desert, then vast, weathered, red earth ramparts, tall tapering palms, orchards of oranges and verdant olives. In the evening, life concentrates on that disordered square of marvels the Djemma el Fna – where story-tellers, fortune-tellers, cooks, musicians, acrobats and dancers weave their nightly magic – and the packed, festive alleys of the souk. This book explores the city’s mystique through the researches, speculations and scholarship of forty writers who have succumbed to the enchantment of Marrakesh, giving the reader privileged access to a web of stories that enrich this beguiling city.

Including: Elias Canetti, Esther Freud, Peter Mayne, Juan Goytisolo, Sacheverell Sitwell, George Orwell, Edith Wharton, Wyndham Lewis, Ali Bey, Gavin Maxwell and Leo Africanus.