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by Hane Selmani (Author)
A Country Called Brooklyn: Blood Feuds, Family Honor & My Sister's Murder
A gripping memoir about honor, family loyalty, and the search for truth after a brutal murder.
Growing up in 1970s Brooklyn under 500-year-old Albanian honor codes, Hane believed in fate, female submission, and God's plan. Her world seemed perfect-until her favorite sister, Jariyeh, was murdered by her husband. Suddenly nothing made sense. Why had God allowed it? Why did her brother set out for revenge? But good girls didn't question. They obeyed.
Thirty years later, Hane finds the courage to investigate the murder-risking disgrace to her family name. Was it an honor killing, as the husband later told Jariyeh's children? Or had drug dealers forced his hand, as her family believed?
Drawing on court transcripts, witness accounts, family interviews, and the ancient Honor Codes of Lekë Dukagjini, Hane uncovers a truth far more complicated than she expected. The deeper she goes into her sister's life, the more she is forced to confront the beliefs that shaped her own.
Blending family memoir with true crime, A Country Called Brooklyn is one woman's determination to uncover the truth about her sister's murder-and the courage it takes to challenge tradition.
