A college senior in search of her calling, Afghani-American Parveen Shams discovers a bestselling memoir about Afghanistan, and is inspired to travel to a village in the land of her birth to join the work of a charitable foundation. When she arrives, however, the well-equipped maternity clinic is mostly unstaffed, and the villagers do not exhibit the gratitude she expected to receive. As the reasons for Parveen's pilgrimage crumble beneath her, the U.S. military turns up, bringing the war in their wake. When a fatal ambush occurs, Parveen must decide whether her loyalties lie with the villagers or the soldiers—and she must determine her own relationship to the truth. Also the author of the American Book Award winner The Submission, Amy Waldman served as a New York Times correspondent in Afghanistan, and she brings great insight and a sense of authenticity to this "breathtaking and achingly nuanced" novel (Kirkus Reviews).