Books by Yasmina Khadra

Such was the battle that raged between Cousin K and me: good done badly; evil done well."" And such is the twisted logic of good and bad, right and wrong, knitted into this novella by one of the most powerful voices to emerge from North Africa in our time.

Award-winning author Yasmina Khadra gives us a stunning panorama of life in Algeria between the two world wars, in this dramatic story of one man's rise from abject poverty to a life of wealth and adulation. Even as a child living hand-to-mouth in a ghetto, Turambo dreamt of a better future. So when his family find a decent home in the city of Oran anything seems possible. But colonial Algeria is no place to be ambitious for those of Arab-Berber ethnicity. Through a succession of menial jobs, the constants for Turambo are his rage at the injustice surrounding him, and a reliable left hook. This last opens the door to a boxing apprenticeship, which will ultimately offer Turambo a choice: to take his chance at sporting greatness or choose a simpler life beside the woman he loves.

Re-named 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.

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.

The Swallows of Kabul is an astounding and elegiac novel of four people struggling to hold on to their humanity in a place where pleasure is a deadly sin and death has become routine.

Lægen Kurt Krausmann fra Frankfurt er ved at gå i hundene efter at have mistet sin elskede på tragisk vis. En ven overtaler ham til at tage med på en sejltur til Comorerne mellem Afrika og Madagaskar for at begynde på en frisk. Da skibet ud for Afrikas Horn bliver angrebet af pirater, forvandler rejsen sig til et mareridt. De to venner bliver ydmyget, berøvet og slået. De møder et fattigdommens og håbløshedens Afrika. Lidt efter lidt får Kurt dog øjnene op for en overraskende, levende og fascinerende verden, hvor kærligheden måske også venter.