In 1966, Salih published his novel "Mawsim al-Hijrah ilâ al-Shamâl (Season of Migration to the North)", for which he is best known. It was first published in the Beirut journal "Hiwâr". The main concern of the novel is with the impact of British colonialism and European modernity on rural African societies in general, and on Sudanese culture and identity in particular. His novel reflects the conflicts of modern Sudan and depicts the brutal history of European colonialism as shaping the reality of contemporary Sudanese society. "Mawsim al-Hijrah ilâ al-Shamâl" is a story told to an unspecified audience by the unnamed narrator, a “traveled man,” and an African who has returned from schooling abroad. The narrator returns to his Sudanese village of Wad Hamid on the Nile in the 1950s after writing a PhD thesis on ‘the life of an obscure English poet’. Mustafa Sa'eed, the main protagonist of the novel, is a child of British colonialism, and a fruit of colonial education. He is also a monstrous product of his time.