Quill of the Dove
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
French journalist Marc Taragon is at the apex of his career in 2007. A tenacious idealist, Taragon has spent the last thirty years attempting to bring to readers the truths about the wars and political intrigues of the region. He is unsparing in his criticism of extremists and has earned many enemies. He agrees to be interviewed in Cyprus, by a young Canadian journalist, Marie Boivin, not knowing that Marie has a hidden agenda: to discover through Taragon the truth about her childhood. Before Marie finds the answers she seeks, she is enmeshed in Taragon's plan to broker peace negotiations between a left-wing Israeli politician and a dissident Palestinian leader. Taragon succeeds in persuading the two adversaries to agree to an ambitious peace plan. The action then moves quickly through Europe and the Middle East as Taragon and his associates try to stay one step ahead of deadly opponents of their initiative. Parallel to the main plot is the narrative of Taragon's early years as a journalist in war-torn Lebano
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This uninspired political thriller from Canadian author Shaw (Soldier, Lily, Peace and Pearls) focuses on an effort to forge a durable Israeli-Palestinian peace accord in 2007. The talks are facilitated by Marc Taragon, a French journalist who made many Lebanese and Palestinian friends when he was in Lebanon decades earlier. Those relationships enable him to persuade Israeli politician Jonathan Bronstein and Hamas terrorist Abdullah Akkawi to sit down and hash out the major issues. The terms of the resulting proposal, dubbed the Arkassa Pact, may strike those familiar with the issues as unrealistic, especially as the plan would allow any Palestinian who accepts Israeli citizenship to become one. Readers will also find it a stretch that the trio meet undisguised in public, given the sensitive nature of the discussions and the parties' awareness that people on both sides of the conflict wish them harm. In addition, the novel suffers from a surfeit of exposition, gratuitous sex scenes, and a groan-worthy final twist. Still, some may applaud Shaw's attempt to articulate the possible framework for a settlement, even though it's now long outdated.
