The Country of the Blind

When law student Sarah Yung is raped, she accuses Paul, long-time friend and fellow student, of the assault. Paul is escorted off campus and is barred from returning while his case is investigated. Protesting his innocence, Paul reaches out to faculty advisor, Professor Alice Gordon, for help in navigating the university’s complex systems and to assist him in continuing his PhD studies while he waits at a nearby motel for the process to unfold.

Convinced of Paul’s innocence, Alice and colleague Professor Bush partner with the young man’s priest to try to discover what really happened in the early morning hours of October 20, 2017. While Paul’s team investigates the rape, others seek to use the situation to their own advantage, creating a climate that leads to anger, vandalism, assault and, ultimately, murder.

This diary-like account, written by a narrator recalling the events of ten years before, challenges our modern ideas of community, provokes thought about the meaning of friendship, and explores how belief impacts the ways in which we navigate the realities of our lives. Integral to the story is the modern culture of the academy where a new form of religion challenges traditional faith and where politics is an ever-present factor.

An engaging twist on the classic whodunnit, The Country of the Blind recounts the shattering events over a period of thirteen days in which lives in this small university community are forever changed.