Parents and Children: The Immigrant Experience

Nadia Hashimi, author of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, has a new novel set in Afghanistan: When the Moon Is Low. Fereiba endures an unhappy childhood to be wedded to Mahmood, an engineer. The happy pair have two children and another on the way when the Taliban comes to power and disappear Mahmood. Realizing her untenable situation, Fereiba makes arrangements with smugglers to get her family to England, where her half-sister lives. Life on the road is very hard, and finally Saleem, Ferieba's teenage son, is separated from the rest of the family. Fereiba makes the impossible choice to continue on to England, while Saleem finds his own way.  Lyrical yet compelling, this book illuminates the refugee experience we hear about only vaguely on the news.

Of course, Hashimi's work will be compared to that of another Afghan, Khaled Hosseini. In And the Mountains Echoed, Pari and her brother Abdullah are taken by their father from a poor village to Kabul. The siblings are parted, with Pari eventually ending up in France. There are other pairings in this complex tale, but it is primarily the story of Pari and Abdullah, the choices we all make and their long-ranging effects. This heart-wrenching tale has a strong sense of place, and is more hopeful than Hosseini's other books.

While it does not involve Afghanistan, Trudy's Promise by M.K. Preston does deal with escape from an oppressive regime. Set in the early 1960s, Trudy's husband Rolf tries to escape the East German police over the wall. As the wife of a defector, Trudy is well aware of the lengthy prison term she faces.Trudy enlists the help of Wolfgang, a member of the state police and also Rolf's friend, to help her to West Berlin. Once there, Trudy works menial jobs while mourning her husband and hoping her young son and mother-in-law can join her. A chance encounter with a member of President Kennedy's entourage sends Trudy to the United States as an example of the brutality of communism. Through it all, she never gives up the aspiration of reuniting her family.