Swiss Summer

Author: Inaam Kachachi

We stretched with the light on. Then with the light off. You laugh in the darkness, and I whisper that the victim is in the arms of her executioner. We left behind the sickly terms and focused on what we were experiencing. Just a man and a woman meeting, and between them, an angel. We set the years aside and try belated love. We fail or succeed. We have passed through lean and dry years. We forgot the arts of intimacy. But love is like swimming and cycling. A skill one sets aside but does not forget. He dives into the water, moves his arms and legs, and floats. The thirsty embrace contains him.

"Swiss Summer" is the story of four Iraqis who meet in Basel to test a drug for treating ideological addiction. Their parties crippled them and destroyed their country. And the Swiss city offered them candies and reconnected a deferred love.

Inaam Kachachi: An Iraqi journalist, novelist, and documentary filmmaker. Born in Baghdad, she studied journalism at its university. She resides in Paris and works in journalism. Her published works include: "Lorna, Her Years with Jawad Saleem" - a novelized biography. "Iraqi Women's Words" - selections translated into French from war texts, and "Land of Tah Tah" - a collection of stories. Her novels include: "The Heart's Channels." "The American Granddaughter." "Tashari." "The Wine Woman." The last three novels were shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction and translated into several languages.