The Spider's Siege

A powerful story of resistance to dictatorship, a fictionalized retelling of the untold history of the Iraqi Leftist and Kurdish insurgency against Saddam Hussein

“The Spider’s Siege is rich and moving, transporting us to a pivotal moment of Iraqi history”—Ahmed Saadawi, author of Frankenstein in Baghdad

The Ansar, the Iraqi communists, and their Kurdish comrades led an insurgency against the brutal political repression of the late 1980s in Iraq, following the end of the war with Iran. Thousands of the Ansar, of all ethnic, religious, and social backgrounds, fled into the mountainous region of Kurdistan, where they joined forces with Kurdish rebels and sheltered in their villages.

Narrated by one of the guerrilla fighters from the heart of the resistance, the army’s impending attack hangs over the men and women in the mountains and as the blockade tightens, the gravity of their situation becomes clear. Many have fled with their families and children in tow and are faced with impossible choices over where to go and how long they can survive under a merciless siege in this harsh terrain.

A tragic and heartbreaking novel written by one of the surviving fighters, The Spider’s Siege unearths a little known, key period of Iraqi history: one of hardship and human struggle, one of sacrifice and determination against all the odds.