Kamel Daoud sued over claim he used life of wife’s patient in novel

Woman treated by therapist Aicha Dehdouh says French-Algerian author’s prize-winning book Houris uses her story

Two complaints have been filed in Algeria against the French-Algerian author Kamel Daoud, winner of France’s most prestigious literary award, and his wife, a therapist, alleging that they used a patient’s life story as the basis for his prize-winning novel.

The writer, the first Algerian novelist to be awarded the Prix Goncourt, won this year’s prize for his novel Houris, a fictional account of a young woman who lost her voice when an Islamist cut her throat during the country’s brutal 1992-2002 civil war.