Torn
-
- $10.99
Publisher Description
Ellie is a young British medic on her first tour of Afghanistan. When her unit is ambushed, she sees a girl step into the crossfire. But instead of finding her injured, Ellie is led into a mystery linked to a hidden Taliban weapons cache, a bombed-out village-and a mob of armed children. With the attractive American marine, Lieutenant Ben Jackson, Ellie sets out to discover the truth, but soon realises that in war nothing can be relied upon, except her growing trust in Ben and the displaced Afghan children that she's come to care about.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Massey draws from personal experience as a consultant to London's counterterrorism unit in his intense and heart-wrenching debut novel. British private Elinor Nielson is only 19 when she is sent to Helmand province in Afghanistan as a medic. Initially, everything is a shock to her: her bunkmate is chilly, the weather is as extreme as the accommodations are basic, and in a subtly supernatural thread a girl in a blue dress mysteriously appears in life-threatening situations. Elinor befriends a trio of rowdy but loyal soldiers and is drawn to Ben, an American Navy SEAL, while facing deadly ongoing assaults from both the Taliban and a group of orphaned children, the Young Martyrs. Compassionate and strong, Elinor strikes a deal with Husna, "a homicidal eleven-year-old," promising to find out the truth about his family's death in exchange for a truce. Massey delicately and impressively explores military politics, the stress of combat, and the roots of terrorism in a story about the daily pressures of war and the heavy toll it exacts on all parties involved. Ages 14 up.
