In A House In Fez, Suzanna Clarke explains how she and her husband fell in love with a country and purchased, then renovated, a centuries old house in Fez, Morocco. Their “new” home (riad) is over 300 years old and in dire need of renovation before it collapses. They are determined to restore it to an authentic Moroccan home. They find native artisans who do all the work by hand. Only able to spend a few months at a time in Morocco, a lot of the work had to be done remotely from Australia with a few good friends back in Morocco helping out where they can. The Medina, which is the old city of Fez, is the best-preserved medieval walled city in the world. Suzanna Clarke not only writes of the process of renovating the house, but also provides meaningful insights into the lives and personalities of the Moroccans. You hear about different people’s everyday life, dreams and culture. It’s heartwarming to learn the similarities that cross cultures. And it’s mind-opening to learn the differences.

In between the story of the renovations, locating tradesmen and overcoming obstacles, Suzanna also relates the rich history of the country, the religious beliefs and the customs of the people she comes across. On trying to overcome, she was quoted saying: “This is how things are done in Morocco, I kept reminding myself, taking deep breaths. It was just as well my high-school French didn’t run to swear words.” One of the things she learns, for example, that when invited for dinner it’s considered rude to stay at the host’s home after dinner is eaten. As soon as the meal is done the party is over. She also learned that comments to a family that their baby is beautiful are considered a wish for bad fortune for the baby. One of the hardships she experiences is when her Ipod got stolen. One afternoon after Sandy returned from Australia, she purchased several brass lanterns from the men who came to the riad from the lighting shop. She noticed their Ipod missing after the men left. But through it all, it was the people who helped with the restoration that made the difference. She also learns that the people in the Medina as welcoming and friendly. “The day we left, they phoned us from their new place of work, the mobile being passed around to wish us ‘trek salaama’ – safe travel. They chattered on happily in Darija and I had no idea what they were saying, but I understood the sentiment. Having shared our lives with them for so long, they felt like family. We would miss them all.”

However, as much as I enjoyed the book, sometimes I was slightly put off by the author’s tone. I sensed a bit of a Western superiority complex. Throughout the book, she complains almost way too much about how the Moroccans attempt to lie and exploit her for money. She constantly portrays herself as the weak and victimized foreigner who gets taken advantage of by the ill-intentioned natives. Right from the beginning, the author talks about how she knew she was much richer than everyone around her, and how in awe all the locals must be of her wealth and how difficult it was for her to have houses on opposite sides of the world. Her tone was sometimes too whiny. She often spends too much time complaining about how difficult it was to renovate this house. I know that living in a construction zone can be challenging, but she wasn’t doing it herself. She had a team of workers doing the actual work in the house.

Though the book leaves much to be desired, I found that it was engaging and only made me more excited to travel to Morocco and experience the culture and explore the beautiful country. Suzanna’s story is an uplifting story about how close they become with the working team, and with their new neighbors who became friends. From her story, I enjoying seeing how it is not only the final product that matters, but about the people you meet and the lessons you learn that help you grow as a person. Suzanna finds that beautiful restorations, as well as beautiful friendships, occur as “inshallah”, which means God willing in Arabic. This is the most common phrase throughout the renovation. The book really does test Suzanna’s motto – “it’s possible to do anything if you really want to; whatever you envisage just go ahead, give it a go, try. And I bet you really can.”