A lyrical farewell to the city – and Jewish culture – that Eli Amir grew up in and loved, and which is now gone forever. A marvellous story, noble, dreamy and beautifully told, that brings alive the feel, the taste, the fears and the pleasures of the Jewish community of Baghdad. In 1950, each member of Kabi’s Jewish circle in Baghdad has a different dream. His mother wants to return to the Moslem quarter where she felt safer; his father wants to emigrate to Israel and grow rice; Salim, his headmaster, wants Arabs and Jews to be equal, and Abu Edouard wants to be left alone to care for his adored doves. But his Uncle Hizkel’s arrest is the beginning of a perilous future. The Dove Flyer reconstructs in moving detail the decline and persecution of another Middle Eastern minority, the centuries-old Jewish community of Baghdad.
