Ammine, a surgeon in a Jerusalem hospital, struggles to cope with the mangled bodies of victims of a suicide bombing in a downtown Jerusalem pizza restaurant. He is harassed, well-meaning, utterly dedicated and professional - and a naturalised Israeli Arab. When the police pin responsibility of the suicide attack on Ammine's wife, he is at first baffled, disbelieving and angry. But his feelings turn to confusion and sorrow when he discovers his wife was indeed behind the attack, as he travels to Nazareth and Gaza, attempting to discover who could have convinced his wife to do such a thing, and why she might have done so. His life, he discovers, is a lie: not only the lie told to him for several years by his wife - a naturalised Arab who slowly became political - but also the lie he has been telling himself, that his place as an Arab in Israeli society is normal: that the intifada is an abberation, that he - educated, civilised, cosmopolitan, with a beautiful house and Jewish friends who come to dinner - is the future of Arabs in Israel. The result is an inexorable tragedy, the destruction of a good man who does not understand and does not wish to understand the struggles beneath the surface of his life. He is a healer, and believes this absolves him from any involvement in the surrounding 'struggle'; but he learns that to remain neutral is death. The novel offers no solutions: it ends, as it also began, with the Israeli helicopter bombing of a Gaza village to which the doctor has come in his final understanding of his wife's choices. Ammine dies in the attack - which he may have brought upon himself and the other villagers by his high-profile search for 'truth'. Khadra writes with an urgency and an inevitability which is both terrifying and exciting, and this glimpse into an ordinary world split asunder is compelling, often beautifully written and compulsively readable.

Attack

Literature & Fiction

YASMINA KHADRA

Contemporary

Vintage Books USA

What the Day Owes the Night

'Darling, this is Younes. Yesterday he was my nephew, today he is our son' Younes' life is changed forever when his poverty-stricken parents surrender him to the care of his more affluent uncle. Renamed Jonas, he grows up in a colourful colonial Algerian town, and forges a unique friendship with a group of boys, an enduring bond that nothing - not even the Algerian Revolt - will shake. He meets Emilie - a beautiful, beguiling girl who captures the hearts of all who see her - and an epic love story is set in motion. Time and again Jonas is forced to to choose between two worlds: Algerian or European; past or present; love or loyalty, and finally decide if he will surrender to fate or take control of his own destiny at last.

Vintage Books

Khalil: A Novel

Nan A. Talese

THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL: A NOVEL. Translated by John Cullen.

The Attack

William Heinemann, Ltd.

The Independent`Khadra draws the moods and motives of his village lad-turned-apprentice jihadi with engrossing power. Twisting action, emotional subtlety and a plausibly scary picture of a ruined Baghdad combine to lift this novel far above the standard headline-inspired genre piece. It lets you taste the sand, dust, and blood - and, most of all, the despair ... In his own unsettling way, Yasmina Khadra offers the kind of truth that only well-wrought fiction tells.'

The Sirens of Baghdad

William Heinemann

From Publishers WeeklyKhadra is the nom de plume for Algerian army officer Mohamed Moulessehoul (In the Name of God; Wolf Dreams), who illustrates the effects of repression on a pair of Kabul couples in this slim, harrowing novel of life in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Gloomy prison guard Atiq Shaukat is tired of his grim duties, keeping watch over prisoners slated for public execution. Life at home, where his wife, Musarrat, is slowly dying of a chronic illness, is no better. Mohsen Ramat, meanwhile, clings to the remains of his middle-class life together with his beautiful, progressive wife, Zunaira, after the Taliban strip them of their livelihood and dignity. Khadra's storytelling style recalls that of Naguib Mahfouz in the early chapters, in which the tense dissatisfaction of both couples is revealed. The pivotal event occurs when Ramat discharges his frustrations by participating in the brutal stoning of a female Taliban prisoner. The incident changes the dynamic of his marriage; after an extended argument about the incident, Ramat persuades Zunaira to go for a stroll in downtown Kabul and the couple is harassed and nearly brutalized by Taliban soldiers. Zunaira continues to bridle at her situation, and when their next argument turns physical, Ramat falls and dies after hitting his head on the wall. Shaukat is given the assignment of guarding Zunaira after she is arrested and charged with murder, and his instant infatuation with her sets off a remarkable chain of events. Khadra's simple, elegant prose, finely drawn characters and chilling insights ("Kabul has become the antechamber to the great beyond") prepare the way for the terrible climax. Like Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, this is a superb meditation on the fate of the Afghan people. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Swallows of Kabul: A Novel

Literary

RB Large Print

Ben Ouda, a senior diplomat, is found savagely murdered. Is this yet another victim of the never ending Islamic fundamentalist violence in Algiers? Inspector Llob has doubts: Ben Ouda had too many friends, too many far fetched theories... Navigating the Algiers underworld and rich elite, Inspector Llob resists the pressure of politicians, fundamentalists and crooks in his pursuit, against the background of a world in turmoil.

Double Blank: An Inspector Llob Mystery (Toby Crime)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Toby Pr

Brahim Llob, Khadra's policeman-turned-detective writer is summoned by the chief of Algerian police and fired for having published Morituri, the book which the establishment considers dishonorable and full of lies - and in actuality, Yasmina Khadra's previous book in this series.... After revisiting his hometown, Llob becomes the victim of an attack by a GIA commando, and goes back to Algiers. In this third volume of the Inspector Llob series, fiction and reality intermesh against the pervasive violence of war-torn Algeria.

Autumn of the Phantoms

Genre Fiction

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by YASMINA KHADRA. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by YASMINA KHADRA