The Orange Grove - Softcover

Tremblay, Larry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1908670363 ISBN 13: 9781908670366

Publisher: Peirene Press, 2017

Synopsis

War takes no prisoners. It involves everyone - even children.

Twin brothers, Amed and Aziz, live in the peaceful shade of their family’s orange grove. But when a bomb kills the boys’ grandparents, they become pawns in their country’s civil war. Blood demands more blood and, at the command of a local militant group, either Ahmed or Aziz must strap on a belt of explosives and make the ultimate sacrifice. Years later, the surviving twin works as an actor in wintry Montreal. A theatre director gives him a role that forces the young man to reconsider his decisions. Will Ahmed – or is it Aziz? – release himself from the past?


Why Peirene chose to publish this book:

'This story made me cry. Since the dawn of civilisation we have justified war by claiming that we are creating a better future for our children. And yet don’t we run the risk of laying a curse on future generations? This story reminds us of our obligation to forgive – ourselves as well as others.' Meike Ziervogel

About this title

About the Author

Larry Tremblay is a writer, theatre director and actor. He has written thirty books, including two previous novels, The Bicycle Eater and The Obese Christ; one short story collection, Piercing; and numerous volumes of poetry and plays. Tremblay has been short-listed three times for the Governor General's Award and his writing has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He lives and works in Montreal.

From Publishers Weekly

Readers will be uncomfortably stirred by this poignant novel about the haunting effects of war from Tremblay, a prolific Montreal actor, playwright, and author of over 30 books. Aziz and Amed are nine-year-old identical twins growing up in the war-torn Arab Middle East (their exact location left intentionally vague by the author) at their family's orange grove. When a bomb kills the boys' grandparents, a religious militant faction convinces their father, Zahed, that "revenge is the only answer for your grief." Zahed is given a belt of explosives and told to choose one of his sons to send on a suicide-bombing mission. In an act of desperation, their distraught mother tries to switch the boys' identities, leading to a tragic event that dishonors their family in the eyes of the militants and their religious community. A decade later, the surviving twin, plagued by regret and despair, builds a new life as an actor in Montreal, trying to find reason in art. This is a tale of the innumerable tragedies of war—bereavement, brainwashing, aftermath—told with the lyricism of an epic parable or fairytale, one the reader will not soon forget. (May)\n

Edition details

• Publisher: Peirene Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908670363
• ISBN 13: 9781908670366
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160