Torn
-
-
4.5 • 4 Ratings
-
-
- $5.99
-
- $5.99
Publisher Description
Witnesses to a mystery on the battlefield, a British medic and an American Navy SEAL confront Afghanistan's fog of war.In war-torn Afghanistan, a girl walks right into a hail of bullets: Elinor watches it with her own eyes. The young British army medic risks the line of fire to rescue her, only to realize the girl is gone. To find the missing, mysterious child, Elinor enlists the help of an American Navy SEAL. But in all the confusion, with coalition troops fighting every day to maintain a fragile peace, does Ben have something to hide? Elinor came to Afghanistan with the hope of changing hearts and minds: What she's about to discover will make her question everything she ever believed about love and war.A war thriller. A cross-cultural love story with an undercurrent of magic realism. A powerful debut set in modern-day, battle-scarred Afghanistan. This is TORN.
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.
