The Shell: Memoirs of a Hidden Observer - Moustafa Khalifa

The work of a modern-day Sozhenitsyn that exposes acts of violence and brutality committed by the Syrian regime. nThis compelling first novel is the astonishing story of a Syrian political prisoner of conscience--an atheist mistaken for a radical Islamist--who was locked up for 13 years without trial in one of the most notorious prisons in the Middle East. The novel takes the form of a diary which Musa keeps in his head and then writes down upon his release.

In Tadmur prison, the mood is naturally bleak and yet often very beautifully captured. The narrator, a young graduate, is defiant and stoical, and somehow able to pick out humor and irony in the shocking events and characters he describes. n nConsidered by many in the Arab world to be a symbol of the Syrian opposition in the current civil war, this novel provides an essential perspective on the tragedy the Syrian people are living through.n