In this post–Arab Spring novel, Ahmad Tarawneh tells the story of conflicting loyalties between two Jordanian brothers, one who serves in the Jordanian national security division, and another who belongs to an extremist militant Islamic group. With boldness, clarity, and an insider’s eye, Tarawneh addresses the root causes and circumstances that lead a desperate young Jordanian to be recruited into a terrorist organization, tempted by the lure of glory purported by a skillful, self-serving sheikh. The novel depicts the positive and negative forces that influence the two brothers in their soul-searching quests for self-actualization that lead to more questions than answers—questions many Arab youth still ask today, while engulfed in their own raging struggles over tradition, religion, modernity, and secularism. Readers find themselves on an intimate journey into the minds and hearts of the protagonists to witness the tragedy and absurdity of this conflict and the magnitude of the human destruction it leaves behind.

AHMAD TARAWNEH is a Jordanian novelist, playwright, and journalist. He served as the vice chair of the Jordanian Writers Society Executive Board and won the Jordanian National Award for his novel Wadi Al-Safsafa in 2009.

NESREEN AKHTARKHAVARI is associate professor of Arabic language and culture and the director of Arabic Studies at DePaul University where she teaches Arabic literature, culture, film, media, and translation.