The Swallows of Kabul - Softcover

Khadra, Yasmina

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1400033764 ISBN 13: 9781400033768

Publisher: Anchor, 2005

Synopsis

"Surprisingly tender." -- The New York Times Book Review. Set in Kabul under the rule of the Taliban, this extraordinary novel takes readers into the lives of two couples: Mohsen, who comes from a family of wealthy shopkeepers whom the Taliban has destroyed; Zunaira, his wife, exceedingly beautiful, who was once a brilliant teacher and is now no longer allowed to leave her home without an escort or covering her face. Intersecting their world is Atiq, a prison keeper, a man who has sincerely adopted the Taliban ideology and struggles to keep his faith, and his wife, Musarrat, who once rescued Atiq and is now dying of sickness and despair.
Desperate, exhausted Mohsen wanders through Kabul when he is surrounded by a crowd about to stone an adulterous woman. Numbed by the hysterical atmosphere and drawn into their rage, he too throws stones at the face of the condemned woman buried up to her waist. With this gesture the lives of all four protagonists move toward their destinies.
The Swallows of Kabul is a dazzling novel written with compassion and exquisite detail by one of the most lucid writers about the mentality of Islamic fundamentalists and the complexities of the Muslim world. Yasmina Khadra brings readers into the hot, dusty streets of Kabul and offers them an unflinching but compassionate insight into a society that violence and hypocrisy have brought to the edge of despair.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Set in Kabul under the rule of the Taliban, this extraordinary novel takes readers into the lives of two couples: Mohsen, who comes from a family of wealthy shopkeepers whom the Taliban has destroyed; Zunaira, his wife, exceedingly beautiful, who was once a brilliant teacher and is now no longer allowed to leave her home without an escort or covering her face. Intersecting their world is Atiq, a prison keeper, a man who has sincerely adopted the Taliban ideology and struggles to keep his faith, and his wife, Musarrat, who once rescued Atiq and is now dying of sickness and despair.
Desperate, exhausted Mohsen wanders through Kabul when he is surrounded by a crowd about to stone an adulterous woman. Numbed by the hysterical atmosphere and drawn into their rage, he too throws stones at the face of the condemned woman buried up to her waist. With this gesture the lives of all four protagonists move toward their destinies.
"The Swallows of Kabul is a dazzling novel written with compassion and exquisite detail by one of the most lucid writers about the mentality of Islamic fundamentalists and the complexities of the Muslim world. Yasmina Khadra brings readers into the hot, dusty streets of Kabul and offers them an unflinching but compassionate insight into a society that violence and hypocrisy have brought to the edge of despair.

From the Back Cover

"This is a novel about the Taliban years, through the portrait of two couples tearing each other apart. This book covers the universal theme of what a political situation such as this one can generate: male cowardice, female madness. It's equally despairing and magnificent."—Le Nouvel Observateur
"All the themes of oppression are celebrated: the banality of evil, mass hysteria, the power of sacrifice, death's shadow. And most of all the reign of the absurd. For Yasmina Khadra's characters are the grandchildren of Albert Camus's characters." —L'Express

"Here is an almost perfect litle book. Soft like a stone in a river, warm like a lover's blood...The intrigue is clever and the language beautiful." —Le Journal du Dimanche

"(Khadra) knows how to hold the reader spellbound from the first to the last page....Yasmina Khadra confirms that he is a great writer." —Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace

About this edition

• Publisher: Anchor
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1400033764
• ISBN 13: 9781400033768
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 195