The Swallows Of Kabul

　　☆ 2005年美國《舊金山紀事報》最佳小說
　　☆ 2005年美國《基督教科學箴言報》最佳小說
　　☆ 入圍2006年都柏林IMPAC 文學獎決選名單
　　☆ 2005年科威特《新聞週刊》獎
　　☆ 2003 年法國梅茲文學沙龍獎
　　☆ 2003年阿爾及利亞書商獎

　　他是塔利班監獄的牢頭，也是將囚犯送上刑場的劊子手，但在年長的妻子得了不治之症、行將就木之際，他卻不忍將糟糠之妻休棄、任她在街頭自生自滅。

　　她是在塔利班歧視女性的政權下，無法再為任何人爭取權益的律師，只能羞愧地躲在面紗下苟且偷生。當她得知同為知識分子的丈夫，竟然會「神智不清」地加入行刑的民眾，丟石頭砸死了一名被判刑的妓女，她再也無法忍受與凶手同床共枕，決定要離開丈夫。

　　但在爭執中，丈夫卻因意外殞命，而她也即將成為另一個石下亡魂，直到那個劊子手看見了她祈禱中的臉。第一次，他發現這世界上，仍有美麗的事物值得他去拯救——可是他該怎麼做？

　　Set in Kabul under the rule of the Taliban, this extraordinary novel takes readers into the lives of two couples: Mohsen, who comes from a family of wealthy shopkeepers whom the Taliban has destroyed; Zunaira, his wife, exceedingly beautiful, who was once a brilliant teacher and is now no longer allowed to leave her home without an escort or covering her face. Intersecting their world is Atiq, a prison keeper, a man who has sincerely adopted the Taliban ideology and struggles to keep his faith, and his wife, Musarrat, who once rescued Atiq and is now dying of sickness and despair.

　　Desperate, exhausted Mohsen wanders through Kabul when he is surrounded by a crowd about to stone an adulterous woman. Numbed by the hysterical atmosphere and drawn into their rage, he too throws stones at the face of the condemned woman buried up to her waist. With this gesture the lives of all four protagonists move toward their destinies.

　　The Swallows of Kabul is a dazzling novel written with compassion and exquisite detail by one of the most lucid writers about the mentality of Islamic fundamentalists and the complexities of the Muslim world. Yasmina Khadra brings readers into the hot, dusty streets of Kabul and offers them an unflinching but compassionate insight into a society that violence and hypocrisy have brought to the edge of despair.

　　★本書中譯版《喀布爾之燕》由木馬文化出版。

作者簡介

雅斯米納．卡黛哈（Yasmina Khadra）

　　本名穆罕默德．莫萊賽奧（Mohamed Moulessehoul），於一九五五年一月十日出生在阿爾及利亞境內撒哈拉沙漠的小村落。九歲進入軍事幼校，畢生在阿爾及利亞軍隊擔任軍官，也於該國內戰時參與過對抗宗教狂熱份子的戰事。

　　早在十八歲開始，他便陸續用本名出版了六部小說，並以作家的身分獲得肯定，後來也引來阿爾及利亞軍方的注意，於是在一九八八年間特別針對他成立文字檢查委員會。他只好改採筆名躲避審查，而「雅斯米納．卡黛哈」是他太太名字的前兩個字。二○○一年他離開軍隊遷居法國後，才接受法國《世界報》訪問公布真實身分。之後他依舊持續使用這個女性筆名，表示對妻子的感激，以及對所有阿拉伯女性的敬意。

　　他的作品中經常流露對於世界衝突的深刻關切，重要著作有：《喀布爾之燕》、《攻擊》、《巴格達警報》。其中《喀布爾之燕》和《攻擊》皆進入國際IMPAC都柏林文學獎最後決選；《攻擊》一書更風靡法國，暢銷35萬冊，入圍多項文學獎，並榮獲二○○六年法國書商公會文學獎。

　　★卡黛哈是繼卡繆之後，阿爾及利亞當代最重要作家
　　★享有法國語文外交官美譽
　　★2004年《新聞週刊》雜誌（Newsweek）譽他為「罕見的文學作家，為當今的苦難賦予了意義」

　　Yasmina Khadra is the nom de plume of the Algerian army officer Mohammed Moulessehoul, who is the author of four other books published in English: Double Blanc, Morituri, In the Name of God and Wolf Dreams. He took the feminine pseudonym to avoid submitting his manuscripts for approval by military censors while he was still in the army. He lives in France.