Growing up in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, a young Kurdish boy named Kerim has
ample opportunity to witness the murderous repression that defined the
era for thousands of Iraqis. In Sherko Fatah's The Dark Ship, we
experience an extraordinary new voice in fiction, which tells the story
of the kind of trauma and striving that leads a man from religious
extremism to a vain hope for redemption. We follow Kerim from the fading
memories of his childhood to his life running his family's roadside
restaurant. Captured by jihadists, he reluctantly joins the group, and
grows fascinated with their charismatic leader. After a narrow escape
from martyrdom and a difficult passage to Europe, Kerim, tormented by
memories of his violent past, is unable to find his place in his new
country. Turning yet again to his faith, he finds solace in the
fundamentalist mosques of his new city. But it isn't long before he
learns once again that he cannot escape his history, his culture, or his
own doubts. At once a thriller and a political narrative, The Dark
Ship tracks the Kurdish experience from the war-torn mountains of
northern Iraq to the bureaucracies and mosques of Berlin in a gripping
journey across land and water, through ideology and faith.