I knew there were several
books out there with that title. (There
is even a 1951 Humphrey Bogart
movie.) Still, to come face to face with another contemporary Sirocco
was a bit startling at first. Naturally, and because of its beautiful cover as
well as reading the ‘Look Inside’ on Amazon, I was intrigued enough to buy “the
other” Sirocco written by Danielle
A. Dahl.
I am so glad I did.
While our two stories are
completely different (Danielle’s being a delightful yet heart-wrenching memoir
and mine a pure archaeological adventure fiction), we both use the fierce
Mediterranean wind as a symbol of foreboding.
I asked Danielle about
her life other than what I read in her Sirocco, and she tells us this:
“A voracious reader, I cultivate my passion for the power and
magic of words. When asked, ‘Who's your favorite author?’ ‘Steinbeck,’ is my
straight-from-the-heart answer. For love of languages, I speak French—but of
course. English—indubitably. And Spanish—por qué no?’
“On
my time away from writing, I like to paint, take photos, bowl, and hike. Ah,
oui! Last, but not least, I'm raving mad about dark chocolate.
“I
am a member of the South Carolina Writers Workshop, Sisters in Crime, the
National Association of Memoir Writers, the Southern Indie Booksellers Alliance,
and the Seneca Writers Critique Group.
“I
am also a member of Le Cercle Franco-Americain and The French Underground, both
in Greenville, SC.
“Sirocco
was finalist in the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
1)
In the Historical Non-Fiction category,
2)
In the Historical/Legacy category.
“Two
of my creative nonfiction stories appeared in the 2011 and 2012 Petigru Review
Literary Journal.
“I
won second place in the 2011 Carrie McCray Memorial Literary Awards for
nonfiction.
“Lastly,
I was semi-finalist in the 2011 William Faulkner Wisdom Competition for a
novel-in-progress as well as for a short story.
“At
present, I am translating SIROCCO to French and am writing the
first draft of MISTRAL, SIROCCO's sequel, depicting the struggle, which I, my
family, and over a million others like us, faced after we fled Algeria and
searched for new places to call home in France or across the globe.”
Thank you, Danielle, for letting us look deeper into your past.
Actually, it struck me that our paths might easily have crossed at some time,
as I was an au pair student in Paris in 1962, and then also lived in Chicago
until the late 1960s after my job transfer there from Austria.
What a pity. I would
have liked to have met you then; but am glad I am doing it now (at least via the Internet through our mutual passion for writing).
Back to Sirocco:
A French Girl Comes of Age in War-Torn Algeria.
The following is
my Amazon Review of this coming-of
age memoir:
Delightful and ForebodingNaturally, the title intrigued me. Danielle A.
Dahl’s Sirocco starts out with the day-to-day recollections of an
adolescent girl growing up in Algeria during the early 1960s. Her French
parents and four siblings are happy with their lives. While having to be frugal,
they are respected members of the community comprised of other Pieds Noirs (all French expressions are made
beautifully clear throughout the book), as well as their Arab neighbors,
friends and colleagues.When Algeria’s desire to self-rule rears its
head, it all changes. The family is given a choice: To leave their home with a
suitcase; or to stay in a coffin. Such is the heartbreak behind any revolution;
the price to pay by those who had made a foreign country their home.Ms. Dahl’s writing comes straight from the
heart, yet without sentimentality or rancor; in short, it is delightful,
insightful, humorous and sad all at the same time - a wondrous window into a
world most of us know little about. I highly recommend this beautifully written
memoir. Inge
H. Borg, Author of Sirocco, Storm over
Land and Sea
Most of us are not familiar with the city of Constantine nor might you be aware
of its dramatic setting. I certainly wasn’t. Danielle’s website features astonishing
and hauntingly beautiful photographs. Sitting as it does atop a formidable
rock, the city overlooks deep chasms connected to the outside world by
death-defying bridges and roads.
I could almost feel the echo of the howling sirocco; an inescapable portent to those
wrecked lives during the 1960s.
Ms. Dahl’s writing has
been described as “lush, richly evocative, bittersweet and brilliant” by other
readers, and I wholeheartedly agree.
Ms. Dahl is already working on her next storm,
the Mistral, where
she and her family come to face as they find refuge in an inhospitable France.
In keeping with my own stormy theme, I almost chose that
title for Book 3 of my Legends of the
Winged Scarab. Eventually though, I settled on a world After
the Cataclysm (as the story takes my protagonists into the South
Atlantic, well away from Mediterranean storms – to which they only return in The
Crystal Curse and The Nile Conspiracy). If you feel
this is a shameless little plug for my
Sirocco, you are not wrong...
However, do yourselves a favor and read Danielle Dahl’s book. I found it a brilliantly-cut diamond among the pebbles:
It
is instead a demented entertainment, an embarrassment of kitsch riches that, in
between inspiring giggles and snorts, incites you to consider imponderables
like, who greenlighted this, and why? Is there really still a market for
would-be spectaculars with cartoonish effects and self-parodying dialogue
delivered with “Downton Abbey” drawls?
