Jamil Ahmad Knihy

A haunting literary debut set in the forbidding remote tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Traditions that have lasted for centuries, both brutal and beautiful, create a rigid structure for life in the wild, astonishing place where Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan meet—the Federally Administered Tribal Lands (FATA). It is a formidable world and the people who live there are constantly subjected to extremes—both of geography and of culture. The Wandering Falcon begins with a young couple, refugees from their tribe, who have traveled to the middle of nowhere to escape the cruel punishments meted upon those who transgress the boundaries of marriage and family. Their son, Tor Baz, descended from both chiefs and outlaws, becomes “The Wandering Falcon,” a character who travels throughout the tribes, over the mountains and the plains, in the towns and tents that comprise the homes of the tribal people. The media today speak about this unimaginably remote region, a geopolitical hotbed of conspiracies, drone attacks, and conflict—now, told in the rich, dramatic tones of a master storyteller, this stunning, honor-bound culture is revealed from the inside. Jamil Ahmad has written an unforgettable portrait of a world of custom and compassion, of love and cruelty, of hardship and survival, a place fragile, unknown, and unforgiving.

En la agreste y montañosa Baluchistán puede pasar el tiempo por sus hombres y sus tierras, pero nunca por sus férreas tradiciones. Si éstas se quebrantan, la venganza es implacable. La hija de un jefe tribal, sometida a un matrimonio no deseado, huye con el joven del que está enamorada. La pareja, escondida en un recóndito fortín, vive su amor del que nacerá un hijo, Tor Baz, el halcón negro… “El halcón errante” es una novela llena de acción y de belleza que nos transporta a un mundo anclado en el pasado que no entiende de fronteras, donde la generosidad, la hospitalidad, la lealtad y el heroísmo conviven con la crueldad, los odios tribales, las venganzas y las incomprensibles tradiciones que afectan al “honor” y la sumisión de las mujeres.