Just before taking his last breath in a hospital bed, the elderly Abdelatif expresses to his young son his dying wish: to be buried in the soil of his village. Bulbul will convince his older brother Hussein and their sister Fatima to accompany their father's body together. However, this equates to a dangerous mission in a country that has turned into a bloody labyrinth of arbitrary military confrontations.

We therefore follow a van heading from Damascus to Anabijah. Inside, the silence is disturbing, while outside a wild civil war rages on, insatiable for victims. On one side, we have the successive roadblocks that the family must pass, and on the other, the psychological barriers that make this journey a difficult trial. We see three people who are primarily called to discover themselves.

A novel that, prompted by death, speaks of life. Khaled Khalifa, a gifted storyteller and a master of dark humor, delivers a stunning novel about the tragedy of modern Syria.

“Khaled Khalifa has an exceptional pen. He belongs to the best writers of today’s Middle East.” Le Monde des Livres (France)

“A wonderful, dark, surreal road novel. As I Am Dying by William Faulkner is creatively reimagined and placed within the most brutal civil war of our time.” The Wall Street Journal (USA)

“Khaled Khalifa wrote a pitch-black, horrific, poignant comedy from the realm of the dead of our age. For us to hear, read, and understand.” Literatur Spiegel (Germany)

“A scathing, gripping book, perhaps the most refined achievement of the Syrian author so far. It conveys the fear, paranoia, and hardships that accompany life in a wartime authoritarian state in a moving way.” The Financial Times (UK)