Somewhere in the West Bank, an Israeli patrol is assaulted by a Palestinian commando. One Israeli soldier is killed and another is kidnapped. Wounded, in a state of shock, the hostage loses hold of reality and forgets everything, even his own name. Eventually he is rescued, taken in by two Palestinian women and his wounds heal. He becomes Nessim, brother of Falastìn, an anorexic Law student; and son of Asmahane, the blind widow of an official who was shot dead in an ambush. Nessim passes through the looking glass, suffering the daily anguish of the inhabitants of the colonized West Bank. In this poignant novel, Hubert Haddad makes Falastìn a modern Antigone: proud, untamed and the victim of man's cruelty. Reflecting the beauty of the setting in his style, he models a modern tragedy in all its horror and absurdity.

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Born in Tunis in 1947, Hubert Haddad has never forgotten his Jewish and Berber origins. He was raised in Paris and published his first book of poems at the age of twenty. In his work, more than fifty novels, plays, and essays, he explores the behaviour of human beings in extremis. Pierre L'Abbé is the author of Ten Days in Rio, a novella in verse (WatershedBooks) and Kiss of the Beggar (Guernica, stories), and translator of Benjamin Fondane's Exodus (Joseph Norman).

An enchanting style, a fervent meditation. - LE MAGAZINE LITTÉRAIRE Plunging his roots into the Israeli?Palestinian conflict, Hubert Haddad brings us a sensual, disturbing novel that clears away all hatred. - TÉMOIGNAGE CHRÉTIEN A novel that is admirable in its simplicity on one of the most complex subjects ever (...) Probably one of the most beautiful books from a writer who takes a stance against his times. - LE MONDE