What Changes Everything

June 17, 2013
Conflict in Afghanistan sets the stage for this engaging narrative weave from Hamilton (31 Hours), Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy at the US Embassy in Kabul. Tragedy strikes when Todd, the director of a humanitarian organization in Kabul, is suddenly abducted. Clarissa, his wife in Brooklyn, struggles to deal with her now-detained husband's uncertain fate and inability "to celebrate the plain pillow that catches one's head each night." Then there is Stela, a heartbroken Cleveland mother who has lost one son in battle and her other son to a grave misunderstanding. Keeping her bookstore to "feel less alone," she writes endless letters in an effort to express herself. Mandy, a mother from Texas, travels to Kabul as a hospital aid worker to better understand her own personal tragedy, for "maybe she'd heal herself in their hospitals, by a taste of the country that had chewed up her son and then spit him back." These tales merge with the true story of Mohammad Najibullah, late president of Afghanistan, recounted through imagined letters to his daughters. Straddling two lands while depicting the strength of human relationships even in the darkest moments, this seamless blend of fact and fiction through illuminating prose makes the story a rewarding and thought-provoking read.

June 1, 2013

In this new novel by Hamilton (31 Hours), who currently works at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and founded the Afghan Women's Writing Project, a seemingly disconnected series of narratives cohere around the theme of America's experience in Afghanistan. When a refugee aid worker named Todd is kidnapped for ransom, his wife and daughter back home in Brooklyn struggle with trust--in the FBI and in each other. Stela, a Russian immigrant who owns a bookstore in Cleveland, has lost one son in Afghanistan; her other son, now a Brooklyn street artist, refuses to communicate with her. Mandy, a nurse, travels to Afghanistan ostensibly to bring medical supplies but in fact to find a connection with her embittered son, a veteran who is a double amputee. Amin, formerly an aide to a deposed Afghani president (whose fictionalized letters from prison lend the novel its historical perspective), is determined to negotiate Todd's release. VERDICT Hamilton's descriptions are vivid, especially when portraying the tension and uncertainty that families of political prisoners endure. Fans of topical fiction will appreciate this knowledgeable and nuanced view of the Afghan war.--Reba Leiding, James Madison Univ. Lib., Harrisonburg, VA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2013
When Todd, regional director of an American refugee organization, is kidnapped and held hostage in Kabul, his wife, Clarissa, back in New York, does not know if it is safer to try and rescue him or negotiate. Is he in the hands of criminals or the Taliban? Should she take the advice of Todd's colleague, Amin, and stay silent? On the streets of Brooklyn, she meets mural artist Danil, who left home after his brother was killed in Afghanistan. Is it exploitation to exhibit his war graffiti in a gallery? Then there is Mandy who leaves for Afghanistan when her son loses his legs in a bomb attack there. And the former Afghan president, Najibullah, under house arrest for more than four years, writes to his beloved daughters in Delhi about the increasing violence in his country. Sure to spark discussion, with intense turnarounds to the very end, this powerful contemporary novel understands the horror of war behind the headlines and how the political machinations on all sides tear apart the lives of ordinary people.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)