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Bitter Lemon Press
February 2014
On Sale: February 18, 2014
Featuring: Muhsin al-Khafaji; Mrouj
324 pages
ISBN: 1908524251
EAN: 9781908524256
Kindle: B00APD9WCO
Paperback / e-Book
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Baghdad Central is a noir debut novel set in Baghdad in
September 2003. The US occupation of Iraq is a swamp of
incompetence and self-delusion. The CPA has disbanded the
Iraqi army and police as a consequence of its paranoid
policy of de-Ba'athification of Iraqi society. Tales of
hubris and reality-denial abound, culminating in Washington
hailing the mess a glorious "mission accomplished." Inspector Muhsin al-Khafaji is a mid-level Iraqi cop who
deserted his post back in April. Khafaji has lived long
enough in pre- and post-Saddam Iraq to know that clinging on
to anything but poetry and his daughter, Mrouj, is asking
for trouble. Nabbed by the Americans and imprisoned in Abu
Ghraib, Khafaji is offered one way out—work for the CPA to
rebuild the Iraqi Police Services. But it's only after
United States forces take Mrouj that he figures out a way to
make his collaboration palatable, and even rewarding. Soon,
he is investigating the disappearance of young women
translators working for the US Army. The bloody trail leads
Khafaji through battles, bars, and brothels then finally
back to the Green Zone, where it all began. This is a first novel by Elliott Colla , an American writer
totally immersed in Middle Eastern affairs. He is a
professor of Arabic literature at Georgetown University, and
a well-known translator from the Arabic of local fiction and
poetry. He divides his time between Washington, DC, and the
Middle East.
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