What Changes Everything is truly an American story on an international stage, told through an ensemble of heartening characters. In a gamble to save her kidnapped husband’s life, Clarissa Barbery makes the best decisions she can in the dark nights of Brooklyn. Stela Sidorova, who owns a used bookstore in Ohio, writes letter after letter hoping to comprehend the loss of a son on an Afghan battlefield and to reconnect with the son who abandoned her when his brother died. And Mandy Wilkens, the mother of a gravely wounded soldier from Texas, travels to Kabul to heal wounds of several kinds. At the same time, What Changes Everything is the story of two Afghans who reveal the complexity of their culture, the emotions that hold it together and those that threaten to fracture it. These lives are braided into an extraordinary novel about the grace of family.
**
From Publishers Weekly
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)
From Booklist
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. --Hazel Rochman
Description:
What Changes Everything is truly an American story on an international stage, told through an ensemble of heartening characters. In a gamble to save her kidnapped husband’s life, Clarissa Barbery makes the best decisions she can in the dark nights of Brooklyn. Stela Sidorova, who owns a used bookstore in Ohio, writes letter after letter hoping to comprehend the loss of a son on an Afghan battlefield and to reconnect with the son who abandoned her when his brother died. And Mandy Wilkens, the mother of a gravely wounded soldier from Texas, travels to Kabul to heal wounds of several kinds. At the same time, What Changes Everything is the story of two Afghans who reveal the complexity of their culture, the emotions that hold it together and those that threaten to fracture it. These lives are braided into an extraordinary novel about the grace of family.
**
From Publishers Weekly
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)
From Booklist
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. --Hazel Rochman