The Accident

On the autobahn in Vienna a taxi leaves the carriageway and strikes the crash barrier, flinging its male and female passengers out of its back doors as it spins through the air. The driver cannot explain why he lost control; only saying that the mysterious couple in the back seat seemed to be about to kiss… Set against the tumultuous backdrop and aftermath of the war in the Balkans, The Accident intimately documents an affair between two people caught in each other’s webs. The investigation into their deaths uncovers a mutually destructive obsession that mirrors the conflicts of the region.

Somewhere between vivid hallucination and cold reality, Ismail Kadare’s new novel is a bold departure and an intense exploration of the contours of a union that moves inexorably towards its own demise.

About The Author

Ismail Kadare was born in 1936 in Gjirokaster, in the south of Albania. He studied in Tirana and Moscow, returning to Albania in 1960 after the country broke ties with the Soviet Union. He became a journalist and published poet, and his first novel, The General of the Dead Army, established him as a respected writer. Translations of his novels have since been published in more than forty countries, and in 2005 he became the first winner of the Man Booker International Prize.