Yasmina Khadra's first books were thrillers set in today's Algeria, wrecked by civil war, in which more than 50 000 people were killed after the fundamentalist religious party who had won the election was barred from power by a military coup. Yasmina Khadra, himself Algerian, masterfully conjures up the horror of the Taliban regime, the stifling atmosphere, the lack of freedom imposed by a number of God-crazy men on a whole population reduced to abject fear. It is the affirmation of love and sacrifice against the prevailing inhumanity. This outing and its disastrous consequences entwine the fates of the two couples. One day, Mosheen convinces Zunaira to go out with him. This harsh world is driving the two couples mad. He is drained by his love and pain for her, her efforts to please him, her slow agony.Īll around them are men with certainties, ready to lapidate a woman or divorce a dying wife. His wife Musarrat is dying of an unknown illness. They've lost everything: their parents are dead, their house destroyed, Zunaira is not allowed to work and has to wear the hated burkha to go out.Ītiq, a Russian war veteran, now works part-time as a prison jailer. He was going to become a diplomat, she was a magistrate, they came from wealthy families and married young. Mosheen and Zunaira had everything going for them before. How do you survive in a world where you can be beaten up for laughing with your husband? What kind of life can you live when everything has been taken away from you? Where the Taliban rule, love between a man and a woman, joy, music, freedom have been banned, replaced by violence and hatred, all in the name of God. An astounding tale of love and sacrifice in the horrific and inhumane Taliban regime.

Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra