Jennifer Steil

A "novel based on an unexplored slice of World War II history, following a young Jewish girl whose family flees refined and urbane Vienna for safe harbor in the mountains of Bolivia"--

Exile Music

From a real-life ambassador's wife comes a spectacular novel about the brutal kidnapping of an American woman living with her diplomat husband in the Middle East and the heartbreaking choices each must make in the hopes of being reunited Finn and Miranda waited a lifetime to find love and now they are living a fairy tale. In Mazrooq, where Finn is the British ambassador, the couple and their toddler daughter have a staff of servants to meet their every need and a stately mansion with all the modern comforts. But while their lifestyle affords them luxuries that the majority of citizens in the desperately poor country will never know, for Miranda it comes at a price: the loss of freedom. Trailed everywhere by bodyguards to protect her from the dangers of a country wracked by civil war, forced to give up work she loves, struggling to master a bewildering role as ambassador's wife, her world is shattered when she is kidnapped, an act of terror that has complex and far-reaching consequences. Diplomatic life is a far cry from Miranda's previous life as a free-spirited Seattle artist. After following her girlfriend to Mazrooq, she spent years wandering the labyrinthine streets of the ancient capital, finding inspiration for her art and befriending a group of young women, teaching them to paint in ways their culture has forbidden. As the narrative weaves past and present, we come to see how Finn and Miranda's idealism, and darker secrets they have each sought to hide, have placed them and those who trust them in peril. And when Miranda grows close to a child who joins her in captivity, it is not clear that even her freedom can restore the simple happiness that once was hers and Finn's. Suspenseful and moving, The Ambassador's Wife is a harrowing story of love, marriage, and friendship tested by impossible choices.

A Novel

The Ambassador's Wife

Bonnie Jo Campbell

Cat Warren

Beth Kephart

Diane Lefer

Carol Guess

Sybil Baker

Ethel Rohan

Kim Chinquee

Kathleen Rooney

Tama Janowitz

Kathi Appelt

Sherrie Flick

Victoria Redel

Robin Black

Deb Olin Unferth

Kathy Fish

Molly Gaudry

Debra Di Blasi

Xu Xi

Ellen Meister

Amina Gautier

Jo-Ann Mapson

Elaine Chiew

Tara Laskowski

Kristine Ong Muslim

Natasha Saje

Roberta Allen

Susanna Sonnenberg

Pamela Painter

Jillian Sullivan

Nancy Stohlman

Liza Gardner Walsh

Tara Campbell

Patricia McConnell

Lisa Kastner

Ellen Boscov

Kristin Burcham

Sara Chansarkar

Mare Chapman

Watsuki Harrington

Tara Masih

Robin OIivera

Alina Pleskova

Zalisa Rabin

Trisha Rodriguez

C. J. Spataro

Wendy Stetson

Chelsea Stickle

Julia Strayer

Girija Tripp

Fifty-two writers responded in exactly 100 words to the fine art photography of Meg Boscov to create an anthology of healing visions.

An Anthology of Micro Writing and Fine Art Photography

Healing Visions

"I had no idea how to find my way around this medieval city. It was getting dark. I was tired. I didn’t speak Arabic. I was a little frightened. But hadn’t I battled scorpions in the wilds of Costa Rica and prevailed? Hadn’t I survived fainting in a San José brothel? Hadn’t I once arrived in Ireland with only $10 in my pocket and made it last two weeks? Surely I could handle a walk through an unfamiliar town. So I took a breath, tightened the black scarf around my hair, and headed out to take my first solitary steps through Sana’a."—from The Woman Who Fell From The Sky In a world fraught with suspicion between the Middle East and the West, it's hard to believe that one of the most influential newspapers in Yemen—the desperately poor, ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, which has made has made international headlines for being a terrorist breeding ground—would be handed over to an agnostic, Campari-drinking, single woman from Manhattan who had never set foot in the Middle East. Yet this is exactly what happened to journalist, Jennifer Steil. Restless in her career and her life, Jennifer, a gregarious, liberal New Yorker, initially accepts a short-term opportunity in 2006 to teach a journalism class to the staff of The Yemen Observer in Sana'a, the beautiful, ancient, and very conservative capital of Yemen. Seduced by the eager reporters and the challenging prospect of teaching a free speech model of journalism there, she extends her stay to a year as the paper's editor-in-chief. But she is quickly confronted with the realities of Yemen—and their surprising advantages. In teaching the basics of fair and balanced journalism to a staff that included plagiarists and polemicists, she falls in love with her career again. In confronting the blatant mistreatment and strict governance of women by their male counterparts, she learns to appreciate the strength of Arab women in the workplace. And in forging surprisingly deep friendships with women and men whose traditions and beliefs are in total opposition to her own, she learns a cultural appreciation she never could have predicted. What’s more, she just so happens to meet the love of her life. With exuberance and bravery, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky offers a rare, intimate, and often surprising look at the role of the media in Muslim culture and a fascinating cultural tour of Yemen, one of the most enigmatic countries in the world.

An American Woman's Adventures in the Oldest City on Earth

The Woman Who Fell from the Sky

John H Dromey

Dg Critchley

★ Mystery Magazine's November 2021 issue ★ Mystery Magazine presents original short stories by the world's best-known and emerging mystery writers, each and every month. Get ready to be surprised, challenged, and entertained--whether you enjoy the style of the Golden Age of mystery. Subscribe on Kindle Newwstand with a one month free trial In our cover feature "Back Down To Black" by Andrew Welsh-Huggins, freelance mailman Mercury Carter travels to Des Moines, Iowa, to deliver a top-secret formula to an epidemiologist that could save thousands of lives, only to encounter people intent on intercepting the information-by force if necessary. "Trouble Is His Biz" by John H. Dromey: Gopher Hartman was an old-school private eye, or maybe a dropout. An independent thinker, he tended to go his own way in an effort to live up to his name. In "Gator Bait" by DG Critchley, drug dealers are disappearing in South Florida. It could be an unusually tidy turf war or something else. FBI agent Travis Tredman suspects the latter when a half-eaten dealer shows up in the Big Cypress. In "Murder By The Sea" by Jennifer Steil, a housekeeper discovers a body impaled on a broken vodka bottle by the Aral Sea, and the entire town falls under suspicion. "Don't Want To Know" by Steve Beresford: When her husband Joey calmly announces that he wants to kill his brother, Fran realises her life is about to change forever. And Joey claims his plan is perfect. But as for the details of that plan-Fran doesn't want to know ... In "The Elevating Power Of Art" by Liv Strom, a last-minute heist allows common burglar Ricky the chance to live out his dream of joining the elegant world of art theft, but he soon discovers it is not as easy as it first seems. "Happy To Help" by Carl Robinette: Daisy Belle is always happy to help and she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty. When her buddy, Ray Gage, is arrested for murder, Daisy will stop at nothing to prove his innocence. "Under Water" by Josh Pachter: Owning a home isn't for the fainthearted, even when the weather is fine. When disaster strikes, though, desperate times call for desperate measures ... "A Cozy Arrangement" A You-Solve-It By John H. Dromey: Natural causes or a sinister plot? It's difficult to say when a petite piece of evidence-a potentially important clue-goes missing. Cover art by Robin Grenville Evans.

November 2021

Mystery Magazine

Kiedy Miranda, malarka obracająca się w kręgach artystycznej bohemy, zakochuje się w Finnie, brytyjskim dyplomacie piastującym stanowisko ambasadora w jednym z krajów arabskich, z dnia na dzień staje się częścią świata, na który zupełnie nie była przygotowana. Wraz z mężem i ich maleńką córeczką wiedzie żywot w okazałej rezydencji, mając do dyspozycji liczną służbę. Jednak ceną, jaką Miranda płaci za ten luksus, jest utrata wolności. Zostaje zmuszona do zrezygnowania z kariery zawodowej. W dodatku na każdym kroku towarzyszą jej ochroniarze strzegący jej bezpieczeństwa w kraju trawionym wojną domową. Cały jej świat wali się w chwili, gdy zostaje porwana przez terrorystów, co, jak się okaże, będzie miało dalekosiężne konsekwencje. Przez pierwsze lata spędzone w Mazruku Miranda nie ma żadnej styczności ze światem dyplomacji. Na co dzień zajmuje się malarstwem i wprowadzaniem w arkana sztuki grupy młodych muzułmanek. Udziela im lekcji rysunku, choć nie wszystko, czego je uczy, jest dozwolone w ich kulturze. Podążając za meandrami narracji rozpiętej pomiędzy czasem przeszłym i teraźniejszym, powoli odkrywamy, że idealizm Mirandy i Finna, a także tajemnice, które próbują skrzętnie ukrywać, narażają na niebezpieczeństwo najdroższe ich sercu osoby. A gdy Miranda przywiązuje się do dziecka, z którym dzieli niewolę, okazuje się, że odzyskanie wolności być może wcale nie przywróci jej szczęścia, jakie dotychczas odczuwała u boku Finna. Żona ambasadora to trzymająca w napięciu, a jednocześnie głęboko poruszająca opowieść o miłości, małżeństwie i przyjaźni poddanym najcięższej próbie.

Żona ambasadora

Jennifer Steil

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