The Broken Cedar [Paperback]

Written by a former military policeman, and dealing with the effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Lebanese life, The Broken Cedar is nothing if not timely. Khalil, owner of a small electrical shop on the Israeli-Lebanon border for years, has managed to survive through tumultuous times. Now, with only a short time to live, it is time to face his life's reckoning. An unwilling accomplice to the lynching of two UN peacekeepers years before, he finds shadows of such old events rising up again with the sudden appearance of a victim's son. As he attempts to reconcile past actions with present consequences, Khalil's personal crisis of conscience can be also taken as a national one. The result is a novel with wider ramifications than just the personal drama it describes. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

‘Extraordinarily accomplished…beautifully realised' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

‘His prose has qualities that would be welcome in more new Irish novelists: restraint; steadfastness; comprehensive adult empathy’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

A compelling novel of middle-eastern conflict, turning on one man's crisis of conscience as his death approaches in modern-day Lebanon. The Enclave; home to Lebanon's dispossessed. Khalil has made his life here, catering to the needs of UN troops on the Israeli-Lebanon border. His small electrical shop has served him and his family well, has sustained them through turbulent years of conflict, and now it is time to let go, to live his final days in peace. But when a young Irishman walks in to his shop Khalil is forced to confront an act of horrifying violence from his past. Years before he was witness to the lynching of an Irish UN peacekeeper. What happened next has remained a secret for fifteen years. And now, the son returns. Exploring in intimate and compelling detail the effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on everyday Lebanese life, THE BROKEN CEDAR turns on one man's terrible crisis of conscience as he attempts to reconcile past actions with present consequences.

A former Military Policeman, Martin Malone is the author of AFTER KAFRA, and US which won the JOHN B KEANE/SUNDAY INDEPENDENT AWARD in 2001. He is now a full-time writer and lives in Co. Kildare, Ireland.