This is a beautiful and haunting novel about a noble yet flawed bookstore owner who lives in a country ruled by a radically conservative party,"Les Frères Vigilantes", a group that seeks to control every aspect of life according to the precepts of their rigid moral theology. The bookseller resists the new regime with quiet determination, using his shop and his own history as weapons against puritanical forces. This work of fiction has proven frighteningly prophetic, foretelling the current state in Algeria, and it's author's assassination, murdered because "he wielded a fearsome pen which could have an effect on Islamic sectors" (Djaout's assassin).Author Biography: May 26, 1993 Tahar Djaout was attacked by several assassins (generally attributed to the armed branch of the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front (FIS)), as he was leaving his home in Bainem, Algeria. His murderers shot him several times, dragged him from his car, and used it to make their escape. Djaout was left in a coma for a week, and died on June 2 at age 39. The manuscript of (cont. in Selling Points)