Prophetically named for a real war yet to come, Six Days depicts the struggle of a fictional city under siege. Barakat tells the story of shy lovers, friends, increasing fear and anger, and finally the terror of war. The people of Dayr Albahr are confronted with an ultimatum: surrender or be destroyed. They choose to resist, knowing that they face inevitable defeat, but sustained by a determination to be free, and by the conviction that “ashes fertilize the land.” First published in Arabic in 1961.

Halim Barakat is research professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. Widely published in both Arabic and English, his novels and short stories have also been translated into French, German, and Japanese.