Rym Hayouni

It is early summer, exceptionally hot and humid. Malek is living on the ground floor of an old building by the sea, single with no family ties. She is frequently mocked by her friends, Khaled and Azza, because of her passions for Roman mosaics and for spying on her strange neighbors. It is the day- to- day life she has chosen. But when night falls, the wild violent rowing she hears from behind her neighbors' closed door plunges her into fits of anguish. Dark memories resurface. She is sure there is a Monster living in her building. It sends her messages, enters her apartment when she is away. The day she met Jihène, a new tenant, who she immediately befriends, was the day the monster came knocking at her door.

Nada is a young woman leading a double life. During the daytime she’s quiet and reserved, but after dark she dives into the nightlife of Tunis and picks up men. First, she lets them tell their stories – as she doesn’t speak, she acts as a kind of confidante – then beats the hell out of them. When a new colleague, Noura, arrives at her workplace and Nada finds a mythical knife at the home of one of her victims, events are unleashed over which Nada has less and less control.