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Making the Middle East map
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mary Doria Russell has written historical fiction and speculative fiction and been well honored for it. “The Sparrow,” a hybrid of science fiction and religious journey, was one of Entertainment Weekly’s Top 10 books of the year, and “A Thread of Grace,” set during World War II, was nominated for a Pulitzer.
Now she has “Dreamers of the Day,” which is about the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference. In case you missed history class that day, that’s when Winston Churchill, Lawrence of Arabia and a few other Westerners sat down and more or less drew the map of the Middle East that is still causing problems today. So it’s a pretty important event. Russell tells the story through the voice of Agnes Shanklin, an American schoolteacher staying at the hotel where the conference takes place.
I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but Random House has posted Chapter One here.
Russell will read, talk and sign at the Decatur Public Library at 7:15 tonight, with the usual enablers, Georgia Center for the Book and Wordsmiths Books. Could be interesting.
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