Fear of Mirrors

For some East Germans, the fall of communism was like the end of a long and painful love affair: free to tell the truth at last, they found they no longer wanted to hear it. The nation may be reunified, but the life of former East German dissident Vladimir Meyer has fallen apart. His wife has deserted him. He has been fired from his university for being a Marxist. Vlady wants to tell his alienated son, Karl, what his family's long and passionate involvement with communism really meant. This is interwoven with the story of Ludwik, the Polish secret agent who recruited Philby, and of Gertrude, Vlady's mother, whose desire for Ludwik is matched only by her devotion to the Communist ideal. As the plot unfolds through the political upheavals of the twentieth century, Vlady describes the hopes aroused by the Bolshevik revolution and discovers the almost unbearable truth about their betrayal.

Ali folds his drama around the tight, cultlike atmosphere of Communist Party life, peopled by idealists who find their lives encumbered by betrayals, power grabs, and corruption and who, in the post-Communist era, must come to terms with their complicity with Stalinism ... This is a valuable book, especially for those interested in the current thinking of the European left., All human frailty and nobility is here ... an imaginative tour de force., Tariq Ali tells us the story of the aftermath of the fall of Granada by narrating a family saga of those who tried to survive after the collapse of their world. This is a novel that has something to say, and says it well., Tariq Ali captures the humanity and splendour of Muslim Spain ... an enthralling story, unravelled with thrift and verve. Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree is quizzical as well as honest, informative as well as enjoyable, real history as well as fiction ... a book to be relished and devoured., A humdinger of a book, full of energy, intelligence and bite.

Tariq Ali is a writer and filmmaker. He has written more than a dozen books on world history and politics-including Pirates of the Caribbean, Bush in Babylon, The Clash of Fundamentalisms and The Obama Syndrome-as well as novels including the highly acclaimed Islam Quintet. He is an editor of the New Left Review and lives in London.