The sound of drums in the distance

Section: Arabic Novels

Number of pages: 380 pages

The Sound of Drums is what has never been written about the Iran-Iraq War, and records what has been left unsaid by both the narratives that glorify killing and the lamentation of peace. Starting from the eve of the outbreak of war, it takes the reader to its front lines through precise diaries that convey the thoughts and feelings of being present in the eye of the storm.

The novel's focus is a Polish beauty who happens to be in Ramadi with a company building water pumps on the Euphrates River in the early years of the war. This woman quickly becomes a sensitive ear that receives the sound of drums coming from afar and the pulse of the warrior whose existence and mind are threatened by war.