The Ghost Rider
by Ismail Kadare
An old woman is awoken in the dead of night by knocks at her front door. She opens it to find her daughter, Doruntine, standing there alone in the darkness. She has been brought home from a distant land by a mysterious rider she claims is her brother Konstandin. But unbeknownst to her, Konstandin has been dead for years. What follows is chain of events which plunges an Albanian village into fear and mistrust. Who is the ghost rider? Based on the story of “The Ballad of Constantine and Doruntine”, an ancient tale that is known wherever Albanian is spoken and whose versions exist in every Balkan language and in several other European folk traditions. The legend tells of a brother, Kostandin, who rises from his grave to fulfil his promise of bringing his married sister Doruntine back from a far-off land to see their dying mother. Revised edition with many additions and title change of Doruntine, published many years ago.