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Published Jan 2017
256 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
From the author of the acclaimed Green on Blue, a timely new novel of stunning humanity and tension: a contemporary love story set on the Turkish border with Syria.
Haris Abadi is a man in search of a cause. An Arab American with a conflicted past, he is now in Turkey, attempting to cross into Syria and join the fight against Bashar al-Assad's regime. But he is robbed before he can make it, and is taken in by Amir, a charismatic Syrian refugee and former revolutionary, and Amir's wife, Daphne, a sophisticated beauty haunted by grief. As it becomes clear that Daphne is also desperate to return to Syria, Haris's choices become ever more wrenching: Whose side is he really on? Is he a true radical or simply an idealist? And will he be able to bring meaning to a life of increasing frustration and helplessness? Told with compassion and a deft hand, Dark at the Crossing is an exploration of loss, of second chances, and of why we choose to believe - a trenchantly observed novel of raw urgency and power.
"Starred Review. The text is beautifully written, and the rendering of the setting is superb. Dark at the Crossing makes a significant contribution to the literature of war." - Booklist
"Starred Review. Here is a thriller, psychological fiction, political intrigue, and even a love story all wrapped into a stunningly realistic and sometimes horrifying package. Put Ackerman on the A-list." - Library Journal
"A timely and unsettling novel ... A stark and multifaceted portrait of the civil war in Syria." - Publishers Weekly
"Timely ... Ackerman humanizes a war fraught with tragedy and seemingly without resolution." - Kirkus
"Elliot Ackerman has written a brilliant, admirably merciless novel of broken lives, broken places, and good intentions gone awry." - Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
"Infused with profound knowledge, empathy, and chutzpah, Ackerman's writing is hauntingly evocative and beautiful. It is a rare writer who is not afraid to deal with the toughest conflicts, ask the hardest questions, show the darkest side of even heroes, and still manage to renew our faith in humanity." - Elif Shafak, author of The Bastard of Istanbul
"Elliot Ackerman's quietly subversive sensibilities make him one of the most potent and original writers to emerge from that elite platoon of men and women who, since 9/11, have laid down their guns to pick up a pen ... His work is a unique and bittersweet blessing of raw grace and naked, bleeding empathy." - Bob Shacochis, author of The Woman Who Lost Her Soul
"They don't award medals of valor to novelists, but while reading this book I often thought, Maybe they should." - Tom Bissell, author of Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve
"Ackerman is a magnificent storyteller. Dark at the Crossing is a quietly but intensely profound novel. It captures this epic moment in Middle East history in human terms. It's a riveting read. I couldn't put it down." - Robin Wright, author of Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic World
"Welcome to a dark world illuminated by visions that the writer Elliot Ackerman has brought back from his wars, his journalistic investigations, and from his artist's imagination ... In this stunning, grief-inspiring book, it seems to me that Ackerman confesses we do not know. I don't think anyone can ask more of a piece of literature than this delivers." - Atticus Lish, author of Preparation for the Next Life
"Elliot Ackerman's slow-build, atmospheric, and profoundly compassionate novel offers an unexpected and unique perspective on the most volatile conflict zone of the present day." - Greg Baxter, author of The Apartment
This information about Dark at the Crossing was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: © Huger Foote
Elliot Ackerman is the author of the novels Dark at the Crossing, which was a finalist for the National Book Award; Green on Blue and Waiting for Eden. His writings have appeared in Esquire, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications, and his stories have been included in The Best American Short Stories. He is both a former White House Fellow and Marine, and served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. He divides his time between New York City and Washington, D.C.
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