Three Palestinian men embark on a brutal and treacherous odyssey across the Iraqi desert to Kuwait, not for liberation but material betterment. Under the indifferent brutality of border bureaucracy and the blank aggression of the sun, things grow increasingly oppressive. Breezily conversational and disarmingly lyrical, this short novel delivers a shuddering dose of horror.

Collected here alongside the titular novella are six short stories, including the timeless, resonant 'Letter from Gaza', Kanafani's first published work.

GHASSAN KANAFANI (1936-72) remains one of the most important figures in the history of Arab literature. Born in Palestine, he lived in exile from 1948, displaced by the Nakba. He died at thirty-six - assassinated, along with his teenage niece, in a car bombing carried out by Mossad in Beirut.