In the Name of God by Yasmina Khadra

The descent of a peaceful village into the horrors of civil war: Khadra brings to life a conflict largely unknown to those in the English speaking world. Imagine becoming accustomed to terror on a daily basis. Imagine finding it normal to betray your neighbour. Imagine your worst fears being replaced by complacency, your natural compassion by cold indifference. In the Name of God illustrates the way evil can become a part of everyday life. And it is the story of Algeria today.

The moving translation into English is by Linda Black.

YASMINA KHADRA is the pseudonym of the Algerian author Mohammed Moulessehoul, who was born in 1956. A high ranking officer in the Algerian army, he went into exile in France in 2000, where he now lives in seclusion. In his several writings on the civil war in Algeria, Khadra exposes the current regime and the fundamentalist opposition as the joint guilty parties in the Algerian Tragedy. Before his admission of identity in 2001, a leading critic in France wrote: "A he or a she? It doesn't matter. What matters is that Yasmina Khadra is today one of Algeria's most important writers."

Read an article on Algeria by Janine di Giovanni

“The characters are magnificently captured...We are taken through a vast gallery of portraits, sketched with the intensity reminiscent of A Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Garcia Marquez.”
LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR, PARIS

“Yasmina Khadra is one of the rare writers capable of giving meaning to the violence in Algeria today.”
NEWSWEEK

“In the Name of God is a stunning book, revealing the human face behind religious zealotry.”
ST PETERSBURG TIMES