Albania

Broken April, by Ismail Kadare (1978). Kadare, Albania's most celebrated wordsmith, dissects the "mountain law" custom of blood feud, in which murder is mandated for family vengeance. In this mesmerizing novel set in the 1920s, the story of Gjorg—a young Albanian man ordered by his father to commit murder to avenge his brother's murder—intersects with the story of a young couple honeymooning in Albania's highlands, offering a glimpse of traditional Albanian mountain life in the raw.