HoZ acquires 'moving' Dutch bestseller

Head of Zeus has signed Dutch bestseller A Jihad For Love by Mohamed El Bachiri.

Publishing director Neil Belton acquired UK & Commonwealth rights from De Bezige Bij.

A Jihad For Love is a "moving call for tolerance, compassion and understanding", the publisher said. El Bachiri is a Muslim tube driver whose wife Loubna was killed in the Brussels bombings in March 2016, leaving him to bring up their three young sons alone. El Bachiri's wife was the only Muslim killed in the attack, which was carried out by jihadists.  

El Bachiri became a well-known figure in the Netherlands after he said on television that he did not hate those who committed the attacks, in spite of the despair he felt about losing his wife, the publisher has said.

Belton said: "These reflections on love, loss and the ways in which we can live together despite differences of religion and ideology are heartbreaking. Mohamed El-Bachiri is transparently a good man, and what he has to say could not be more timely. He shows how an argument for treating each other with kindness and respect can survive even the most brutal atrocity. For him, Islam is a struggle for love. This short book should be read by everyone who cares about the survival of democracy."

Head of Zeus will publish A Jihad For Love in July, in a translation by Sam Garrett.