The Reluctant Ambassador


Book Description

Tudor court intrigues and England's place on the world stage are revealed through the eyes of Thomas Chaloner, a most reluctant ambassador.




The Reluctant Fundamentalist


Book Description

From the author of the award-winning Moth Smoke comes a perspective on love, prejudice, and the war on terror that has never been seen in North American literature. At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with a suspicious, and possibly armed, American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting. . . Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by Underwood Samson, an elite firm that specializes in the “valuation” of companies ripe for acquisition. He thrives on the energy of New York and the intensity of his work, and his infatuation with regal Erica promises entrée into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. For a time, it seems as though nothing will stand in the way of Changez’s meteoric rise to personal and professional success. But in the wake of September 11, he finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and perhaps even love. Elegant and compelling, Mohsin Hamid’s second novel is a devastating exploration of our divided and yet ultimately indivisible world. “Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America. I noticed that you were looking for something; more than looking, in fact you seemed to be on a mission, and since I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your language, I thought I might offer you my services as a bridge.” —from The Reluctant Fundamentalist




Cultivating Peace


Book Description

This profound guidebook reframes and expands the mission of building a global culture of peace. Going far beyond conventional techniques of conflict resolution, James O’Dea provides a holistic approach to peace work, covering its oft-ignored cultural, spiritual, and scientific dimensions while providing guidance suitable even for those who have never considered themselves peacebuilders. O’Dea is unique in his ability to integrate personal experience in the world’s violent conflict zones with insights gathered from decades of work in social healing, human rights advocacy, and consciousness studies. Following in the footsteps of Gandhi and King, O’Dea keeps the dream of peace alive by teaching us how to dissolve old wounds and reconcile our differences. He strikes deep chords of optimism even as he shows us how to face the heart of darkness in conflict situations. His soulful but practical voice speaks universally to peace activists, mediators, negotiators, psychologists, educators, businesspeople, and clergy—and to everyday citizens.




Stealing the Ambassador


Book Description

Caught between a father who thought success and freedom could be found only in America and a grandfather who risked his life to guarantee such ideals in their homeland of India, twenty-three-year-old Rajiv Kothari is lost in a nation he has always called home and beckoned by the one his father left long ago. Stealing the Ambassador is a literary page-turner that blends the experiences of a first-generation Indian American with those of his immigrant father and revolutionary grandfather, their intertwined stories probing the balance between fiction and history, between old country and new, between fathers and sons. Following his father's sudden death, Rajiv finds himself alone and bewildered. As he attempts to reconstruct his father's life, he begins to better understand his own, and when he chances to meet a new Indian immigrant, eerily reminiscent of his own father, their uncanny interaction grants Rajiv insight into the euphoria that his father felt when he first arrived in the country and its gradual deterioration into frustrated estrangement. Events lead Rajiv to a reverse migration, back to the subcontinent of his father's birth. There he reconnects with his aged grandfather -- once a saboteur responsible for bombings in pre-Independence British India and now mysteriously destitute. Discovering the source of this impoverishment, Rajiv is awakened to a second understanding of his childhood hero, a reconsideration that illuminates the relationships between grandfather, father, and grandson while pointing to new definitions of bravery and familial loyalty. Stealing the Ambassador is a stunning debut from the young Sameer Parekh. In depicting the ways that families are at the source of both our frustration with and our loyalty to identity, Parekh sheds new light on the immigrant experience and on the complexity and power of family relations.




The Ambassador


Book Description

‘A gripping thriller from the man on the inside. You need to read this.’ Andy McNab ‘Tom Fletcher was the ultimate Downing Street operator’ David Cameron A global conspiracy. A man on the run. What happens when diplomacy fails? An unputdownable thriller, written with unique insight into the highest levels of diplomacy. From the former ambassador and No.10 foreign policy advisor Tom Fletcher, an urgent 21st-century thriller. In the aftermath of a global pandemic, a beautiful and charismatic human rights activist is murdered, live on the internet, at the British Embassy in Paris. It is a mystery that no one wants solved. But, when governments refuse to investigate, Ambassador Ed Barnes is determined to find out the truth himself. The quest for answers plunges Barnes into a world of cyber terrorists and warlords, taking him to Oxford, Copenhagen, the mountains of Snowdonia and Lebanon, where he picks up the trail of a shocking conspiracy. This is an international crisis – but also a personal one. Only Barnes can save his family, his diplomatic service and even his country. But can he save himself? Perfect for readers of Robert Peston’s The Whistleblower, Tom Bradby or Frank Gardner. Praise for The Ambassador ‘As one long convinced the truth is very often stranger than fiction I enjoyed Tom Fletcher’s debut novel The Ambassador. The author can draw authenticity from a career spent at the coal face of diplomacy and intelligence, which is why it is a page turner’ Frederick Forsyth ‘A diplomatic genius’ Gordon Brown ‘A terrific read that blends fact, fiction and fantasy. And a call for all of us to reflect on friendship, family and trust. What do we stand for, and what will we do to defend it?’ Sir Graeme Lamb, former Commander of the SAS ‘A week is a long time in diplomacy: intrigue, betrayal, comradeship and reconciliation! A great read!’ Mark Sedwill, Former National Security Adviser ‘A very good novel... recommended’ Alastair Campbell ‘Vivid and atmospheric, [The Ambassador] rockets around the world with intoxicating verve ... Hugely engaging’ Daily Mail ‘A compelling tale of cyber-crime, terrorism and assassination... A real page-turner’ Tortoise




The Ambassador's Wife


Book Description

Inspector Samuel Tay of Singapore CID-SIS has always been something of a reluctant policeman. When he thinks back, he can't even remember why he became a detective in the first place. Regardless, he is very good at what he does.




The Reluctant Spy


Book Description

Long before the waterboarding controversy exploded in the media, one CIA agent had already gone public. In a groundbreaking 2007 interview with ABC News, John Kiriakou called waterboarding torture—but admitted that it probably worked. This book, at once a confessional, an adventure story, and a chronicle of Kiriakou’s life in the CIA, stands as an important, eloquent piece of testimony from a committed American patriot. In February 2002 Kiriakou was the head of counterterrorism in Pakistan. Under his command, in a spectacular raid coordinated with Pakistani agents and the CIA’s best intelligence analyst, Kiriakou’s field officers took down the infamous terrorist Abu Zubaydah. For days, Kiriakou became the wounded terrorist’s personal “bodyguard.” In circumstances stranger than fiction, as al-Qaeda agents scoured the streets for their captured leader, the best trauma surgeon in America was flown to Pakistan to make sure that Zubaydah did not die. In The Reluctant Spy, Kiriakou takes us into the fight against an enemy fueled by fanaticism. He chillingly describes what it was like inside the CIA headquarters on the morning of 9/11, the agency leaders who stepped up and those who protected their careers. And in what may be the book’s most shocking revelation, he describes how the White House made plans to invade Iraq a full year before the CIA knew about it—or could attempt to stop it. Chronicling both mind-boggling mistakes and heroic acts of individual courage, The Reluctant Spy is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the inner workings of the U.S. intelligence apparatus, the truth behind the torture debate, and the incredible dedication of ordinary men and women doing one of the most extraordinary jobs on earth.




The Ambassador's Wife


Book Description




The Ambassador's Wife


Book Description




The Ambassador's Wife


Book Description

From a real-life ambassador's wife and the acclaimed author of Exile Music comes a harrowing novel about the kidnapping of an American woman in the Middle East and the heartbreaking choices she and her husband each must make in the hope of being reunited. When bohemian artist Miranda meets British ambassador Finn in the ancient stone streets of an Islamic city, the course of her life alters in extraordinary ways. Their marriage gives her the luxury to paint whenever she wants, a staff to wait on her, and a young daughter she adores, but she loses the freedom to wander where she likes and to meet the Muslim women she is secretly teaching to paint. Her husband also makes Miranda a target: One sunny afternoon while hiking in the mountains, she is brutally kidnapped. As Finn struggles to save his family and his career, and Miranda grows close to a stranger’s child in captivity, the secrets he and Miranda have each sought to hide place them and those who trust them in peril. Not even freedom could restore the happiness that once was theirs.