أسرار عائلية

أسرار عائلية (Family Secrets) is the debut novel of Tunisian writer Faten Fazaâ, and a landmark in contemporary North African fiction: the first novel written in the Tunisian dialect (Derja) by a woman. Fazaâ began her career writing on social media before turning her grief after her grandmother's death into this semi-autobiographical book, which found a large and devoted readership across Tunisia.

The story follows Ghalia, a young mother of two who, in the opening chapter, walks out on her husband and sets out to reclaim her freedom and rebuild a life on her own terms. What follows is an unflinching, intimate portrait of a woman navigating family expectation, social judgment, and the practical hardships that face a divorced mother -- as long-buried secrets and old betrayals surface within her family.

Written in everyday spoken Tunisian rather than classical Arabic, the novel helped popularize a wave of fiction rooted in how ordinary Tunisians actually speak. Frank about marriage, motherhood, and a woman's right to her own choices, Family Secrets resonated with tens of thousands of readers and established Fazaâ as one of the most widely read voices in the new Tunisian literary scene.