In the early 15th-century, the people of Albania know that their fate is sealed. They have refused to negotiate with the Ottoman Empire, and war is now inevitable. Soon enough, thousands of men fill the plain below, and the world waits to hear that the fortress has fallen. THE SIEGE tells the enthralling story of the weeks and months that follow - of the exhilaration and despair of the battlefield, the constantly shifting strategies of war, and of those whose lives are in held in the balance.

First published in Albanian in 1970 as KÃshtjella. Translated from the French of Jusuf Vrioni by David Bellows. "This translation made from the definitive edition of the text published as Les Tambours de la pluie in Ismail Kadare, Oeuvres complètes, t. II Paris: Fayard, 1994, translated from the Albanian by Jusuf Vrioni."--T.p. verso.