Roundabout of Death
Faysal Khartash, translated by Max Weiss

Set in Aleppo in 2012, when everyday life was metronomically punctuated by bombing, Roundabout of Death offers powerful witness to the violence that obliterated the ancient city's rich layers of history, its neighborhoods and medieval and Ottoman landmarks. The novel is told from the perspective of an ordinary man, a schoolteacher of Arabic for whom even daily errands become life-threatening tasks. He experiences the wide-scale destruction wrought upon the monumental Syrian metropolis as it became the stage for a vicious struggle between warring powers. Death hovers ever closer while the teacher roams Aleppo’s streets and byways, minutely observing the perils of urban life in an uncanny twist on Baudelaire's flâneur. The novel, a literary edifice erected as an unflinching response to the erasure of a once great city, speaks eloquently of the fragmentation of human existence and the calamities of war.

'A remarkable book, a vivid testimonial to the horrors of the Syrian civil war.' — Robert F. Worth, author of A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil

'Khartash’s sparse and harrowing English-language debut offers an account of life in Aleppo during the Syrian Civil War ... Readers will find this fragmented tale of war-torn Aleppo and its displaced intellectuals chilling and insightful.' ― Publishers Weekly

'A heartwrenching and shocking work of historical fiction...the novel follows Jumaa, an unemployed Arabic teacher who struggles to live peacefully in a dangerous city...A powerful novel that takes a humane view of Syria’s devastation.' ― Foreword Reviews

'News reports and images have exposed the horrors of the Syrian crisis: millions of refugees, bombing and chemical weapons. But this powerful novel by Faysal Khartash makes the grim reality of survival through the fierce fighting in Aleppo truly comprehensible.' ― Itamar Rabinovich, co-author of Syrian Requiem: The Civil War and its Aftermath

'A masterful distillation of one of the great tragedies of the twenty-first century, as stripped of artifice and sentimentality as it is undergirded with insight and empathy. Roundabout of Death is essential reading.' ― Dan Mayland, author of The Doctor of Aleppo

'A brilliant, kaleidoscopic and claustrophobic portrayal of the Syrian civil war. Khartash's spare prose eloquently conveys horrors that require no rhetorical elevation. This is a fine book that deserves a wide readership, both on its own merits and because the Syrian disaster is by no means over.' ― Jonathan Spyer, author of Days of the Fall: A Reporter's Journey in the Syria and Iraq Wars

'Some books stand as monuments to wars from which they arise. This is one of those books.' ― Elliot Ackerman, author of Green on Blue and Waiting for Eden

'A remarkable book, a vivid testimonial to the horrors of the Syrian civil war.' ― Robert F. Worth, author of A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil

'Khartash draws a protagonist who seeks only peace amid the bombs and explosions around him. Roundabout of Death is a book for those searching for new perspectives on an ongoing tragedy that continues to impact the lives of many people today.' ―Artmejournal

'To read a novel, presumably partly autobiographical, written by a Syrian author living in Aleppo amidst the city’s destruction is a moving experience... I feel I’ve been to Syria and got a glimpse of what it’s like to be living there as an ordinary person―and that is an incredible gift.' ―Five Books