Shortlisted for the Arabic 'Man Booker' prize: the dramatic and controversial story of a young Muslim girl who turns extremist- told against the violent upheaval of 1980s Syria.

"The novel is at once startling, creative and bold because of its tight construction and well-drawn characters" -- Dr Khaled Hroub, Cambridge University "A Balzacian tale full of romance and murder that ranges from Afghanistan to Yemen to Syria" New York Times "Chillingly true to life" Financial Times "That Khalifa has chosen to profile fanaticism from a feminine perspective, rather than the more predictable 'male martyr', is this book's great innovation ... courageous" Independent "Gloriously vivacious and nuanced" Guardian

Khaled Khalifa was born in 1964, in a village close to Aleppo, Syria. He is the fifth child of a family of thirteen siblings. He studied law at Aleppo University and actively participated in the foundation of Aleph magazine with a group of writers and poets. A few months later, the magazine was closed down by Syrian censorship. He currently lives in Damascus where he writes scripts for cinema and television.