A Thousand Veils
D.J. Murphy
Reviewed by Cynthia Murphy
D.J.
Murphy’s novel, A Thousand Veils, is
a fast-paced modern thriller. Murphy
tells the story of Iraqi poet and journalist Fatima Shihabi and Wall
Street
lawyer Charles Sherman. Their story
presents the current battle between Islam and the West in microcosm.
The novel
starts with a bang as Fatima learns that she is marked for death by
Saddam
Hussein’s secret police. As she attempts
to escape from Iraq and seek asylum in the United States, Fatima faces
numerous
hurdles. East and West collide when her
brother,
Omar, contacts Charles Sherman. Fatima’s
case intrigues Charles, and it ultimately becomes the biggest “deal” of
his law
career and his life.
The story
moves fast, and the setting changes many times.
The action shifts from Baghdad to Saudi Arabia to New York and
then on
to Paris, the French Alps, and back to Baghdad.
The setting is a key element of the novel. Murphy
has done a nice job of including a
dateline at the beginning of each chapter.
The story takes place in the fall of 2002, just before the
American
invasion of Iraq.
Murphy makes repeatedly points out the
cultural misunderstanding that contributes to the conflict between
Islam and
the West. He handles the subject with a
great deal of knowledge and sensitivity.
The difficulties of life in the post-9/11 world are presented
from both
sides of the conflict. As Charles and
Fatima fall in love, they see that what unites them as people is much
greater
than their cultural differences.
Since Fatima is a poet, Murphy has
included a number of poems within the novel.
The novel begins with a translation of Umar ibn Rabi’a’s “The
Unveiled
Maid.” The final lines of the poem set
the tone for the novel: “Daughter of a better earth, and/ nurtured by a
brighter sky;/Would I ne’er had seen thy beauty!/ Hope is fled, but
love
remains”. The beautiful poetry creates a
bittersweet feeling of hope throughout the novel.
While the story presented in A Thousand Veils is
action-packed, it is
also a hopeful tale. Two very different
people join forces and begin to understand one another.
Their story points toward a possible peace
between Islam and the West.
A Thousand Veils is definitely not a lightweight novel.
It is a thriller that will make you think
about cultural differences, love, and life in our post-9/11 world.
