Broken April is a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by award winning Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

n author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 Ismail Kadare

Ismail Kadare

Ismail Kadare is an Albanian writer. He is known for his novels, although he was first noticed for his poetry collections. In the 1960s he focused on short stories until the publication of his first novel, The General of the Dead Army. In 1996 he became a lifetime member of the Academy of Moral...

. Published in 1978, the book explores one of Kadare's recurring themes; how the past affects the present.

The story tells of Gjorg Berisha, a 26-year-old Albanian man living on the high plateau. He is forced to commit a murder under the laws of the Kanun. As a result of this killing, his own death is sealed; he is to be killed by a member of the opposing family.

The novel was translated into English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 by New Amsterdam Books and Saqi Books, and was subsequently published in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 by Saqi Books

Saqi Books

Saqi Books is an independent UK publisher co-founded in 1984 by author and feminist Mai Ghoussoub to "print quality academic and general interest books on the Middle East". It now claims to be "the UK's largest publisher of Middle Eastern and Arabic titles"...

 in 1990.

Broken April was lauded by reviewers upon its release. The New York Times described it as "written with masterly simplicity in a bardic style", whilst Wall Street Journal declared Kadare was "one of the most compelling novelists now writing in any language."

Film

During 2001 a movie adaptation of Ismail Kadare's Broken April, called Behind the Sun

Behind the Sun (film)

Behind the Sun is a 2001 Brazilian film directed by Walter Salles, produced by Arthur Cohn, and starring Rodrigo Santoro...

, was filmed in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

.