Naive and idealistic, relief worker Amy Mallory arrives in Kabul ready to change the world. She soon discovers that as a woman in Afghanistan, the challenges she faces are monumental. As the new security chief to the Minister of the Interior, former Special Forces veteran Steve Wilson is disillusioned to find that the country he fought to set free has fallen into its old habits of greed and corruption. Afghani native Jamil returns to his homeland seeking a job while his painful past continues to haunt him. All three search for truth...and freedom...but at what cost?

Naïve and idealistic, relief worker Amy Mallory arrives in Kabul ready to change the world. She soon discovers that as a woman in Afghanistan, the challenges she faces are monumental. As the new security chief to the Minister of the Interior, former Special Forces veteran Steve Wilson is disillusioned to find that the country he fought to set free has fallen into its old habits of greed and corruption. Afghani native Jamil returns to his homeland seeking a job while his painful past continues to haunt him. All three search for truth . . . and for freedom . . . but at what cost?

Windle—author of the political/suspense thriller CrossFire—taps into current events with her newest novel, set in Afghanistan. Relief worker Amy Mallory had dreamed of working in Kabul for years, yet her first impressions of the dusty, tradition-bound city aren't great. Steve Wilson, leader of the personal security detail for Afghanistan's minister of the interior, carries memories of his last time in the war-torn country. And Jamil, the Afghan whom Amy hires as her interpreter, is haunted by his past. The trio's lives entwine as they struggle to live and work in Kabul, Amy through New Hope—offering protection to women released from prison—and Steve through protecting Khalid Sayef, a leader who promises reform. Windle's writing sings when she compares the teachings of Isa Masih (Jesus Christ) with those of Muhammad, but occasionally clunks with overuse of acronyms and convoluted sentences. Yet readers will be enthralled with this penetrating look at Afghanistan and its many mysteries revealed through the lives of flawed men and women. Windle is a top-notch storyteller. (June) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

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Author: Jeanette Windle
Submitted: April 21, 2009

    Tell us a little about yourself.  As the child of missionary parents, I was raised in the rural villages, jungles, and mountains of Colombia, now guerrilla hot zones. My husband Marty and I served as missionaries for 16 years in Bolivia before moving to Miami, then Lancaster, PA, where my husband heads a Christian ministry involved in more than 50 countries on five continents. I have currently lived in six countries and traveled in about thirty, including Afghanistan. When not writing books, I head up a communications department and magazine for our ministry and mentor Christian writers in a number of countries around the world. I have fourteen books in print, including political/suspense best-seller CrossFire and Tyndale House Publishers release Betrayed.

    What was your motivation behind this project?  Despite the ugliness of war, I rejoiced in the post-9/11 overthrow of Afghanistan's Taliban, believing it presaged new hope for freedom and peace in that region. Neither freedom nor peace ever materialized. Instead today's headlines reflect the rising violence, corruption, lawlessness and despair. The signing of Afghanistan's new constitution, establishing an Islamic republic under sharia law--and paid for with U.S. dollars and the blood of American soldiers--tolled a death knell for any hope of real democracy. And yet the many players I've met in this drama have involved themselves for the most part with the best of intentions. The more I came to know the region and love its people, I was left asking, "Can outsiders ever truly purchase freedom for another culture or people?" That question birthed VEILED FREEDOM. A suicide bombing brings together a disillusioned Special Forces veteran, an idealistic relief worker, and an Afghan refugee on Kabul's dusty streets. The ensuing explosion will not only test the hypocrisy of Western leadership and Afghanistan’s new democracy, but start all three on their own personal quest. What is the true source of freedom--and its cost?"

    What do you hope folks will gain from this project?  I would like readers to close this book with a better understanding of Afghanistan and the Muslim worlds and how vital and interconnected events there, especially such issues as freedom of worship, speech, human rights, are to our own country's future and security. Even more so, I want every reader to come face to face with the Person of Isa Masih, Jesus Christ, the only true Hope of lasting change and freedom for any people.

    How were you personally impacted by working on this project?  While in Afghanistan myself and writing the book, I was impacted by two things especially: 1) The absolute despair of men and women in the grip of Islamic totalitarianism; 2) The true source of freedom for any society or people, which cannot come through a gun or an aid package, but only through individual hearts changed by coming face to face with the life-transforming love of Isa Masih (Jesus Christ).

    Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know:  "You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free"--Isa Masih (Jesus Christ)

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