In this classic love story featuring passion, jealousy and murder, and set in pre-World War II Iraq, Farida, a Jewish woman and cabaret singer, struggles for survival and her freedom in a world on the edge of upheaval and on which falls the dark shadow of war.

Born in Iraq, Naïm Kattan moved to Montreal in 1954. Award-winning novelist, short story writer and critic, Kattan has published more than 30 books, a few of which have been translated into English, including Farewell, Babylon: Coming of Age in Jewish Baghdad, The Neighbour and Other Stories, Reality and Theatre, and A.M. Klein: Poet and Prophet. Today, Kattan divides his time between Montreal and Paris. Educator, religious studies scholar, and art critic, Montrealer Norman Cornett, Ph.D., teaches at universities throughout North America and Europe. His translations appear in leading literary journals including Canadian Literature, Rampike, Literary Review of Canada, ARC, and Windsor Review. Writer, editor, translator, publisher, filmmaker, Antonio D'Alfonso is the author of over 30 books. His novel Un vendredi du mois d'août won the Trillium Award in 2005. Aside from his own award-winning writing, he has translated some of Quebec's finest authors.