The Sand Child (l'Enfant de sable) is a 1985 novel by Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun.

First published in France, the novel's message expresses on multiple levels ideas about the post-colonial condition of Morocco while also emphasising themes relating to the construction of individual identities.

Frustrated by his failure to bring a son into the world, Ahmed's father is determined that his youngest daughter will be raised as a boy, with all the rights and privileges that go along with it.

The first part of the book describes the father's efforts to thwart suspicion that his child is a boy, especially from his jealous brothers, who look to inherit Ahmed's fortune.

Mohammed Ahmed is circumcised (blood is drawn from her imaginary penis when Hajji Ahmed (Father) intentionally cuts his finger over the child during the ceremony), his breasts are bound, and he even marries his cousin Fatima, a sickly epileptic girl, who dies young.

To verify his story, the storyteller claims to quote from a journal that Mohammed Ahmed kept, revealing his innermost thoughts about his confused gender identity.

Mohammed Ahmed also reveals himself through correspondence with a mysterious friend, who writes him letters challenging his identity.

The book changes direction after Fatima's death and the disappearance of the storyteller, forced away by the modernization of the country.

The remainder of the journal has been lost, but some of the crowd that once listened to the storyteller continues to meet and share how they see the story ending.

Their stories have different endings, some happy, others tragic, until a blind troubador, a fictionalised version of Jorge Luis Borges, continues the tale leading up to Mohammed Ahmed/Zahra's death.

Story teller/narrator: multiple, with varying connection to Ahmed, character(s) as well as narrator(s) Malika: She is the loyal female housekeeper/maid of the house.

L'Enfant de Sable incorporates traditional Arabic and oral story-telling strategies to form a frame-story.

There are many cases in the novel when characters attempt to hide parts of themselves or others; the story is inherently embedded in a sort of mystery.

Blogger Amy Owen describe the "dream-like states, hallucinations, and allusions to Andre Breton and the exquisite corpse [as giving] Ben Jelloun’s work a magical intoxicated quality.

This type of writing allows readers two different perspectives and a chance to reflect and make their own choices about how to understand the "truth" of the story.