On page 229, we read the following:
"They leave the last of the date palms behind and tromp through a field of knee-high grass growing in sandy soil."
Date palms are native to many parts of the Arab world, including Libya.
Next there is an interesting passage with a specific clue (also identified by Eric in grey):
"Ahead is an entrance to the city: crumbling stone walls that centuries ago must have framed a gateway. Now though, anyone may pass."
The specification of crumbling stone walls that must have framed a gateway a few hundred years ago narrows down our search quite a bit.
The next hint is:
"Here and there, smoke rises, carrying the smell of roasted lamb and cumin."
Roasted lamb with cumin is a popular dish in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. It's Arabic name is Mechoui. Indeed, Jen asks Eric in the margins of page 230 if he's "been to the Moroccan restaurant out on 324?"
Page 232 describes a "night suq" or souk as it's commonly spelled. A souk is a traditional Arab street market and is present in most Arab cities.
On page 233, there is an interesting clue:
"He watches a sale conclude: a short, pink, and shaved-bald man in western dress and eyeglasses hands money to the book vendor, hands him paper bills printed with purple and blue. (S. hopes to recognize the currency, but he doesn't.)
So the currency we're looking for would have a purple and blue bill(s). I have some candidates but will save them till I write the conclusion which would integrate all the clues we unearth.
On page 236 it appears that Osfour and S. pass next to a stall that is selling children:
"He blows into it, producing a single tone like a feline yowl, then diving between notes, never lingering on them, a wailing melody both mournful and sinister that has S.'s skin crawling even before he hears one of the baskets rustle, sees it shake ever so slightly though no one is touching it, and hears---could it be?---a childlike whimper coming from within. And is that the lid of the basket, starting to rise---?"
North Africa had been a very active region within the global slave trade. Many major slave trade routes crisscrossed the area. All of the major cities of North Africa housed dedicated slave markets.
The roasted nuts sold on a street cart on page 237 are a popular street food in North Africa.
Page 237 gives us the scene of S. hearing an aeroplane for the first time and mortars start bombarding the city. Eric's notes in the margin as interesting:
"Yrs. have passed since Ch. 4-5"
"Ref. to German invasion of North Africa?"
To be continued....
