Broken April
SynopsisPlot
Two destinies intersect in Broken April. The first is that of Gjorg, a young mountaineer who (much against his will) has just killed a man in order to avenge the death of his older brother, and who expects to be killed himself in keeping with the provisions of the Code that regulates life in the highlands. The second is that of a young couple on their honeymoon who have come to study the age-old customs of the place, including the blood feud. While the story is set in the early twentieth century, life on the high plateaus of Albania takes life back to the Dark Ages. The bloody shirt of the latest victim is hung up by the bereaved for all to see—until the avenger in turn kills his man with a rifle shot. For the young bride, the shock of this unending cycle of obligatory murder is devastating. The horror becomes personified when she catches a glimpse of Gjorg as he wanders about the countryside, waiting for the truce of thirty days to end, and life with it. That momentary vision of the hapless murderer provokes in her a violent act of revulsion and contrition. Her life will be marked by it always.
Story
About this book
In the northern highlands of Albania, a young man named Gjorg has killed someone. He did not act from anger or ambition, but because the Kanun, a centuries-old code governing mountain life, required him to avenge his older brother. Now the same code makes Gjorg the next target. He has thirty days of truce before the cycle resumes. Ismail Kadare sets the story in the early twentieth century, though the customs belong to a far older world.
A second thread follows a newly married couple traveling through the highland plateaus on their honeymoon. They came out of curiosity about local traditions, including the blood feud system that shapes daily life there. When the bride catches a brief glimpse of Gjorg during his period of waiting, the sight of a man walking through borrowed time marks her lastingly.
The novel holds these two viewpoints side by side, one person bound by the code from birth, the other meeting it as an observer. Kadare also notes the practical machinery around the feud, including the bloodied shirt displayed by a victim's family until an avenger answers. The plateau itself, remote and rule-bound, limits what anyone there can choose.
