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From the author of the acclaimed Green on Blue, a timely new novel of stunning humanity and tension: a contemporary love story set on the Turkish border with Syria.
Haris Abadi is a man in search of a cause. An Iraqi who once translated for the American troops in exchange for US citizenship, Haris now yearns to return to Turkey and cross into Syria to join the fight against Bashar al-Assad's regime. But he is robbed before he can make it, and is taken in by two Syrian refugees in Gaziantep - Amir, a former Syrian revolutionary, and his wife, Daphne, beautiful and sophisticated but haunted by grief. After learning that their young daughter was left behind in Syria and that Daphne is also desperate to return to find her, Haris's choices become ever more wrenching: Whose side is he really on? Is he a true radical or simply an idealist?
Told with compassion and a deft hand, Dark at the Crossing is an exploration of loss, of second chances, and of why we choose to believe - a trenchantly observed novel of raw urgency and power.
About the author
Elliot Ackerman, author of the critically acclaimed novel Green on Blue, has covered the Syrian Civil War since 2013. His writings have appeared in The New Yorker, the Atlantic, and the New York Times Magazine, among other publications. He is both a former White House Fellow and Marine, and served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart.
Summary
Haris Abadi is a man in search of a cause, an Arab-American with a conflicted past trying to cross into Syria to join the fight against a tyrannical regime. On his way he meets Amir, a former Syrian revolutionary whose wife, Daphne, is beautiful and sophisticated but haunted by grief. As Haris and Daphne's individual quests bring them together, they find themselves stuck on the border between hope and helplessness, desire and duty, and past and future.
Elliot Ackerman covered the Syrian Civil War for many years as a journalist, and has written a gripping, morally complex novel about the many lives intersecting on the border of Syria and Turkey, expertly capturing the brutality and pathos of a region caught in the frontlines of chaos and lawlessness.
Foreword
A contemporary love story set on the Turkish/Syrian border that explores loss, resilience, and second chances.
