You remember the tragedy. But how do you begin to live again?

One morning in the 1990s in Kosovo, the Albanian population of Gjakova find their front doors marked with a white cross. Fearful for their lives, the Albanians in one neighbourhood hide their women and children inside a basement. In a few days, however, Serbian forces wearing wolf masks arrive accompanied by tanks, demolishing houses and killing people. The occupants of the basement are found and shot down in cold blood. Ten-year-old Ermal, shielded by his dead mother, remains alive. So does his father Adem. But his three sisters are also dead. Days later all traces of the killings are erased.

Eight years later, as a young man living with his father in Mississauga, Ontario, Ermal is still haunted by those events. And he dreams of revenge.

Perparim Kapllani's profile page

Perparim Kapllani was born in Elbasan, Albania. He joined military school before going on to study literature at the University of Tirana. In Albania he wrote drama and worked as a journalist, before coming to Canada in 2000 and began to put to paper his many untold stories. He lives in Toronto, where he operates a pizza parlour and writes.