The Sirens of Baghdad

Yasmina Khadra author John Cullen translator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:5th Jun '08

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The Sirens of Baghdad cover

A strikingly powerful novel exploring the motivations of a suicide bomber in Iraq. By the IMPAC shortlisted author of The Swallows of Kabul and The Attack.

Forced to leave the University of Baghdad when the Americans invade Iraq, a young man returns home to his small desert village, where he witnesses three unspeakable acts of violence committed by American soldiers. Before long, he finds himself part of a terrorist operation which will take him to London.Forced to leave the University of Baghdad when the Americans invade Iraq, a young man returns home to his small desert village, where he witnesses three unspeakable acts of violence committed by American soldiers. Consumed by a desire for revenge, the youth returns to the city where is he is taken in by a radical group. Before long, he finds himself part of a terrorist operation which will take him to London. But as the time to board the plane draws near, he struggles to reconcile himself to his mission.

Expertly evokes an urban atmosphere of paranoia and random destruction * Guardian *
Remarkable...horrifying and genuinely illuminating...essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Iraq, but also an incredibly powerful piece of fiction * The Times *
Intoxicating, utterly thrilling. It is not an apology for terrorism, but a provocative explanation that will bring the Iraqi experience in terrifying detail to western bedside tables * New Statesman *
Khadra draws the moods and motives of his village lad-turned-apprentice jihadi with engrossing power... 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 -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
A sad and important book * Financial Times *

ISBN: 9780099513230

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 19mm

Weight: 223g

320 pages