Divorce Islamic Style - Paperback

by Amara Lakhous (Author), Ann Goldstein (Translator)

Secret identities, criminal conspiracies, and forbidden love converge in this "whimsical and at times heartbreaking look" at the Muslim communities of Rome (The New York Times).

The Italian secret service believes that a group of Muslim immigrants is planning a terrorist attack. Christian Mazzari, a young Sicilian translator who speaks perfect Arabic, goes undercover in Rome's Egyptian neighborhood, Viale Marconi, to infiltrate the group. Posing as a recently arrived Tunisian in search of a job and a place to sleep, Christian soon meets Sofia, a young Egyptian immigrant whose arranged marriage is anything but fulfilling. While Christian attempts in vain to uncover terrorist activity, Sofia is on another kind of secret mission--in defiance of a husband who forbids her to work.
In alternating voices, Algerian-born Italian author Amara Lakhous examines the commonplaces and stereotypes of life in modern, multicultural Italy. Divorce Islamic Style mixes the rational and the absurd as it depicts the conflicts and contradictions of today's globalized world.

Author Biography

Amara Lakhous was born in Algiers in 1970. He has a degree in philosophy from the University of Algiers and another in cultural anthropology from the University la Sapienza, Rome. Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio (Europa Editions, 2008) was awarded Italy's prestigious Flaiano prize and was described by the Seattle Times as a "wonderfully offbeat novel." Lakhous lives in Italy.

Ann Goldstein is an editor and head of the copy department at The New Yorker. Her translations for Europa Editions include novels by Elena Ferrante, Alessandro Piperno, Romano Bilenchi, and Giancarlo de Cataldo.