A Thousand Veils - Softcover

Murphy, D.J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1435705319 ISBN 13: 9781435705319

Publisher: Lulu.com, 2008

Synopsis

When Fatima Shihabi, an Iraqi poet and journalist, learns she is marked for death by Saddam Hussein's secret police, she flees Iraq, evading Saddam's helicopters hunting her in the desert, only to discover that no other country will grant her asylum. Her flight from Saddam's vengeance, and the extraordinary efforts of Charles Sherman, a Wall Street lawyer, to save her life, is the subject of this gripping novel, inspired by a true story. How Fatima and Charles, bound by their common humanity, love for each other, and fate, manage to thwart Saddam and achieve redemption sends a powerful message to the post-9/11 world. Their story points the way toward eventual reconciliation and synthesis between Islam and the West. D.J. Murphy is a retired international lawyer, whose practice included representation of refugees seeking asylum in the United States. The author contributes ten percent (10%) of net royalties derived from this book to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees.

About this title

Review

"D.J. Murphy has produced a suspenseful masterpiece that is likely to endure for generations." Five stars.
-- Review by Robert W. McGlasson on March 25, 2008 at www.Amazon.com

"D.J. Murphy is clearly a writing talent and I appreciate time spent reading A Thousand Veils. Very well done." Four stars. -- Review by Michele Cozzens on April 1, 2008 at www.Amazon.com

"The suspense in this novel . . . matches any of the most compelling stories on the bookshelf. . . ." "[The novel] pulls the readers in and won't let them up for air until the very end." -- Review by Nancy Hansford on March 9, 2008 in Ft. Collins Coloradoan

"[A] gripping story of political oppression, moral courage, and the binding and blinding power of love." Five stars. -- Review by Janet Robertson on March 16, 2008 at www.Amazon.com

"[A] tale of extraordinary courage . . . , a lone Muslim woman with a soaring voice." Four stars. -- Review by Luan Gaines (Amazon top 100 reviewer) on March 31, 2008 at www.Amazon.com

From the Author

My law partners generously allowed me to take on a few hopeless cases for refugees pro bono publico. After succeeding on my last such case, I took early retirement (at 52) to write a novel based on my experiences. It's taken eight years for the book to see the light of day.

I had handled several cases for refugees from the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East. The refugees were fleeing persecution for their beliefs, imprisonment, torture and sometimes certain death in their native countries, yet I found it incredibly difficult to secure asylum for them in America. My clients had family members here who would have gladly taken them in and supported them. All were highly talented, resourceful and courageous people we would have been proud to have in America. Yet, I kept running into wall after wall in the US Government when I tried to get them asylum or even simply a visa for a temporary stay. Think of the poor people in those countries, similarly oppressed and persecuted for their religious or political beliefs, who have no one on the outside to plead their cases.

In writing the novel, I also drew on my extensive experience in the Middle East. Early in my career I was an associate for a major New York law firm, whose clients included the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I spent long periods in Saudi Arabia working on legal contracts for the construction of new cities in the desert at each terminus of the trans-Arabian pipeline. During my twenty-two trips to Saudi Arabia, I had many wonderful encounters with the Saudi people. I developed enormous respect for the Muslim religion and Arab culture, which I hope is reflected in the novel.

While the story itself keeps the reader on edge, just as the cliffhanger asylum cases that served as my inspiration, what's really distinctive is the novel's account of the love between a strong, fiercely independent woman of the Muslim faith and a successful partner of a major New York firm--a veritable `master of the universe' in Tom Wolfe's parlance.

A few of my readers have asked me whether I expect to become the next John Grisham. I do enjoy Grisham myself, but more than Grisham has, I've tried to portray lawyers as they really are, painted their faces in considerable detail, imbued them with real consciences, but also given them profound emotional conflict. In my novel it's their estimable, yet often underestimated, humanitarian concern that gets my hero, Charles Sherman, in deep trouble. As Charles faces one predicament after another, the demands of his clients, the needs of his companion, Sarah, and the lingering effects of 9/11 all weigh on him. A close member of my family worked in one of the World Trade Center towers, and witnessed (and survived) both the 2001 and 1993 attacks on the complex.

Edition details

• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1435705319
• ISBN 13: 9781435705319
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 400