A descent into the Iraqi abyss. A plea for the triumph of humanism.

"The blow having been fired, the die was cast. My father fell backward, his miserable sweater on his face, his belly gaunt, wrinkled, grayish like that of a dead fish... and I saw, while the family honor was spilling onto the ground, I saw what I must not see at all, what a worthy, respectable son, what a true Bedouin must never see - this softened, repulsive, degrading thing, this forbidden territory, tu, sacrilegious: my father's penis... The end of the line! After that, there is nothing, an infinite void, an interminable fall, nothingness..."

Known and acclaimed worldwide, Yasmina Khadra tirelessly explores contemporary history, campaigning for the triumph of humanism. After The Swallows of Kabul (Afghanistan) and The Attack (Israel; Booksellers' Prize 2006), The Sirens of Baghdad (Iraq) is the third installment in the author's trilogy on the dialogue of the deaf between East and West. This novel clearly places the origin of this misunderstanding in people's minds.