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 Inspired by a true story
Fatima Shihabi grew up in a small town in Iraq. She was lucky enough to receive an education and was passionate about words and the truth. After her beloved father's death, she was pushed into a loveless and abusive marriage by one of her brothers. Her husband divorced her after she gave birth to a daughter. She turned to another brother, who was high up in the government for help. He got her a job writing for a newspaper and she is warned when she writes a piece that is critical of the government. After that, she writes "fluff" pieces for the newspaper and continues to write the truth for the underground movement.
Charles Sherman is a high powered attorney in New York City who is in the middle of a huge deal when he receives a desperate phone call from a professor at Columbia University. The professor's sister, Fatima, has escaped from Iraq to Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are planning to send her back to Iraq and certain death.
For some reason, Charles decides to take on the case and becomes obsessed with it and Fatima. He calls everyone he can think of and finally gets her asylum in France. Charles and Fatima's brother fly to Paris to meet her and discover that she has been followed by the Iraqi Secret Police. They try to allude the Secret Police and get caught up in a story that reads like an action packed thriller. The story really heats up when Charles and Fatima sneak into Iraq to retrieve Fatima's daughter.
A Thousand Veils by D. J. Murphy is the exciting story of Fatima and Charles. It is hard to believe, but it is a work of fiction that was inspired by a true story. I really enjoyed this book, even though I thought the ending was a little bit long.
D. J. Murphy is a retired lawyer who represented refugees seeking asylum in this country. He donates 10% of the net royalties from A Thousand Veils to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees.
From S. Krishna's Books
I have become increasingly hesitant at accepting self-published books for review, so when D.J. Murphy contacted me and asked if I wanted to be entered to win a copy of his book A Thousand Veils for review, I wasn't sure how to respond. In the end, having read a few positive reviews of the book, I decided to go for it and ended up getting a copy. I can now say that I'm definitely glad I took a chance on A Thousand Veils; it's a multicultural story of love and taking a stand for something you believe in. It's definitely a book worth reading.
I really liked reading about Fatima's life in Baghdad; it's something I don't have much exposure to and it was really interesting. I also actually really liked the aspects of law discussed in the book. The corporate law was interesting enough, but I enjoyed reading about the avenues Charles used and the lengths he went to in order to try and save Fatima. His dedication to her case was heartwarming and renews your faith in the power of one individual person to change the world, especially considering the novel is based on a true story.
Murphy's descriptions were also well-written and poetic. It is clear that he is a talented writer. The book does suffer from a bit of classic character dialogue issues - namely that the dialogue isn't written as people would actually speak. But this is an easily rectified issue and doesn't affect the overall impact of the book.
I would recommend A Thousand Veils to anyone who is interested in reading more about the Middle East, or anyone who enjoys multicultural stories. The interaction between Charles and Fatima is definitely interesting, especially considering her views on America. It's a promising debut and I look forward to reading Murphy's future novels.
 A very successful first novel
Fatima Shihabi, a poet and journalist, has already seen the inside of one of Saddam Hussein's prison, a victim of his torture. After three months, she is released with the help of her brother, but she knows that next time there will be no help and it will mean her death.
But the situation in Iraq, after 9-11, with UN sanctions in place, was getting worse and worse, limited resources going to the most powerful and leaving little for hospitals or schools, children suffering the most, and Fatima could not totally silence her voice. She became involved with an underground group that had some of her articles published oversees and she was always ready for the call that would mean that she was to be arrested again and killed and that she must flee the country. When the call comes, she leaves her daughter in the relative safety of her brother Abdeljelil's house and makes it across the desert to Saudi Arabia. And it is there that her real adventure begins. No country will give her refuge and she will be returned to Iraq and her certain death if she can not find help.
Help comes in the person of a Wall Street lawyer named Charles Sherman, persuaded by his law partner Art and by Fatima's brother Omar, now an American professor, to take on her case. Charles is a man with his own ghosts, having narrowly escaped death in the World Trade Center, his mind seared with the horrible images of that day. He is a very rich and powerful and successful man, but one who comes to realize that he has chosen to wear his own veils from the world. His encounters with Fatima and her family and their experiences together will leave him a changed man, in many ways.
A Thousand Veils is an excellent book, certainly one of the most enjoyable and most thought provoking ones that I have read this year. It is many things...the personal stories of Fatima and Charles, their friendship and growing affection for each other. It is a discussion of some of the cultural and ideological differences between the Arab world and the West, a story about politics and world we live in. It is a thriller, with Hussein's secret police perusing them across Paris and the Alps, people fleeing across the desert with helicopters in pursuit. But ultimately, perhaps, it is a story mostly about love and family and to what lengths we will go to protect them, and it is a story about friends and how those friendships can change us all into better people. How individuals can come to better understand this complex world and how individuals can
make a difference in the world.
This is Mr. Murphy first novel, and one based, he says, to some degree on a true story. And a wonderful story it is. The characters, both the major characters of Charles and Fatima and the many minor characters, like Charles' girlfriend Sarah, his law partner Art, Fatima's brothers Omar and Abdeljelil and her daughter Latifa, are all well developed and realistically portrayed. The plot is tight and logical and moves at a good pace; the description of the various locations, from NYC to Paris to the prisons of Iraq, clearly painted. It is a well told and moving story.
This is the sort of book that you just can not put down. This is the rare sort of book that I looked forward to having time to pick up to read again and one that I was sad to see draw to a conclusion. A well rounded, satisfying conclusion...but I was sad nevertheless. A book that I can give a strong recommendation to.
A Wondefully written book!
A few weeks ago, I rec'd a message on my LibraryThing page from the author of this book asking me to review it - what a treat! review follows:
A Thousand Veils is a beautiful yet quite despairing story of Fatima Shihabi, a poet and journalist who is in disfavor in Iraq just before the American invasion in 2002. She has written poems and articles against the Hussein regime and death threats have been received.
She finally decides to leave Iraq and her daughter to save her own life. Through many efforts on her part; she becomes acquainted with Charlie Sherman, a cut-throat NY lawyer who not only has spent time in Saudi Arabia but is very familiar with the customs. Charlie tries for many days to find Fatima asylum but, since it is post 9/11 no one will take her in.
He and Omar, Fatima's brother travel to save her with the hope of getting her asylum in the US. This is when things grow complicated with no way out.
This is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. I see by the disclaimer that it is a true story with embellishments. We hide in the gullies with Fatima, eat supper in France with Charlie and still the truth comes through. Fatima was brutalized, banned, lost and found and lost again. Follow along on a wild ride into the Iraqi desert and the hills and mountains of France. You'll be glad you did!
A Thousand Veils read by a French
Désireuse de raviver mon anglais que je n'ai plus l'occasion de pratiquer, j'ai jeté mon dévolu sur ' a Thousand Veils', non sans quelque appréhension, car cela faisait plusieurs années que je n'avais lu un ouvrage dans la langue de Shakespeare.
A mon grand étonnement, je l'ai lu en deux jours, sans difficulté. J'étais tout simplement tellement captivée par ce thriller, que les difficultés linguistiques se sont estompées.
L'auteur narre le calvaire d'une irakienne aux prises avec le régime dictatorial de Sadam Hussein, et sa rencontre avec un avocat américain.
Si vous voulez voyager de Bagdad à New York, tout en passant par Djeddah, Paris et la Savoie, en frissonnant de peur et de désir de connaitre la suite, n'hésitez pas, lisez a Thousand Veils.
Je ne vous en dirai pas plus pour vous laisser découvrir la suite, mais cet ouvrage m'a redonné le goût de relire des ouvrages en anglais.
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