The Bridges of Constantine is a poignant fresco of Algeria over the
last fifty years, a searing love story and a hymn to a lost city.
Khaled, a former revolutionary in the Algerian war of liberation has
been in self-exile in Paris for two decades, disgusted by the corruption
that now riddles the country he once fought for. Now a celebrated
painter, he is surprised at the opening of one of his exhibitions to see
Hayat, the daughter of his old revolutionary commander. A child when he
last saw her, she has now become a seductive young novelist.
As Khaled is consumed with passion for her, Hayat comes to embody the
homeland and the city he still grieves for--the city he paints over and
over again in his canvases. Through Hayat, Khaled's past is breathed
back into life and he, at last, begins to confront his feelings about
Algeria. But for Hayat, as elusive as she is tender, the question of
what one should yearn for is not so simple, and the choices she makes
will have devastating consequences for them both.
The first novel in an award-winning, bestselling trilogy that spans
Algeria's tumultuous recent history, The Bridges of Constantine is a
lyrical and heartrending love story about loss and remembrance, exile
and belonging.
