التوت المر

التوت المر (The Bitter Mulberry) is a 1967 social-realist novel by the Tunisian writer Mohamed Laroussi el-Metoui, widely regarded as a landmark of modern Tunisian and Arabic literature. Set in the south of Tunisia under French colonial rule, it follows a group of young nationalists who set out to confront the spread of hashish (takrouri) — a trade the narrative frames as a colonial affliction eating away at their community.

At the story's heart is Abdullah, a gentle, generous young man who first falls into drug use himself before recognizing its harm and joining others to root out the plant wherever it is grown. Woven through this political awakening is a tender love story between Abdullah and Aisha, a young woman who arrives in the south with her poor Libyan émigré father, Miftah, and who has been left disabled since infancy.

Blending intimate character drama with a portrait of a society on the road to independence, the novel earned lasting acclaim: it was named among the hundred best Arabic novels and has been translated into several languages, including Spanish.