Paris Metro
A Novel
26 February 2019
Territory Rights — Worldwide including Canada, Singapore and Malaysia, but excluding the British Commonwealth.
Description
“A nuanced, engrossing novel about conviction and terrorism in a cosmopolitan, complicated world.”—National Book Review
From the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 to the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, Paris Metro is a story of East meets West. Kit, a reporter, has spent several years after 9/11 living in the Middle East, working as a correspondent for an American newspaper. Along the way she falls in love and marries a charismatic Iraqi diplomat named Ahmed, before their separation leaves Kit raising their teenage son alone in Paris. But after the Charlie Hebdo attack occurs and, a few months later, terrorists storm the Bataclan, Kit’s core beliefs are shattered. The violence she had spent years covering abroad is now on her doorstep. As Kit struggles with her grief and confusion, she begins to mistrust those closest to her: her friends, her husband, even her own son.
Reviews
"Fascinating." — Louise Doughty, New York Times Book Review
"Accomplished and deftly plotted." — Benjamin Balint, Los Angeles Review of Books
"[A] gripping story.… Steavenson’s firsthand knowledge of what it was like to cover these subjects gives Paris Metro necessary authority." — Bradley Bebendir, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"[Steavenson’s] debut novel is sophisticated in both its politics and its treatment of the family drama.… Fans of work by Graham Greene or John le Carré will find much to admire in the engrossing Paris Metro." — Harvey Freedenberg, Shelf Awareness
"[A] very fine novel. Deeply informed by the author’s experiences as a journalist but triumphantly transmuted into intelligent and heartfelt fiction." — Kirkus Reviews
"[An] expansive debut novel.… Powerfully merges the personal and the political." — Publishers Weekly
"With unflinching realism and complicated, captivating characters, Steavenson tackles the turbulent realities of the war against terror." — Booklist
"This ultimately engrossing insider’s view of complicated geopolitics and conflicted identity doesn’t condescend to the reader, offering no simple pieties as it upends stereotypes." — Library Journal
"Paris Metro is a love story between a Western journalist and an Iraqi diplomat that raises the biggest questions about war, religion, and the complicated relationship between the West and the Arab world. Wendell Steavenson has beautifully drawn vivid and convincing characters who will live forever in your imagination. It’s not just a good novel, it is a significant piece of our life." — Alaa Al Aswany, author of The Yacoubian Building
"Every war correspondent dreams of writing a killer novel. Most fail. Wendell Steavenson has succeeded wildly. She’s written a powerful, thoroughly modern novel that goes straight at the big troubling themes of our time with vigor and clear-eyed honesty. Paris Metro won’t let you go." — Karl Taro Greenfeld, author of The Subprimes
Also By: Wendell Steavenson 
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