Nightingale Book

Every day Leila al-Ghani spends in Mosul is a reminder of what her life once was. Before the war, she was the daughter of one of the city's finest families. She was encouraged by her parents to get an education, to think like a modern woman. But now, with Mosul crumbling around her, she is expected to strictly adhere to traditions, to dress modestly with the hijab covering her hair, and to be arranged in marriage.

Disobeying her domineering father and secretly taking a job as a translator at an American military base, Leila's beliefs are forever challenged when she meets a host of new people with different perspectives on the war-and the world. But it is Leila's friendship with Major James Cartwright that will test her courage in profound ways. And when she discovers those she loves are deeply entangled in the most violent, controversial aspects of the war, where she places her loyalties could cost Leila her life.

The Nightingale is a riveting debut that offers a rare glimpse into war-torn Iraq-where a spirited young woman must choose between honoring the customs of the past and her own hopes for the future.

Publishers Weekly

Gallaway's provocative debut is a politically inspired romance set in contemporary Iraq. Before the start of the Iraq War, Leila al-Ghani's family was among the most prominent and open-minded in Mosul. But since the release of the Abu Ghraib photos, her father, a judge under Saddam's regime, has become increasingly conservative and bad-tempered. After being sexually harassed while working at an Iraqi hospital pharmacy, Leila, who yearns to become a doctor, becomes an Arabic-to-English translator at the hospital on a nearby American military base, though she must lie to her parents about her employment. At the hospital, Leila sheds her hijab and not only begins a relationship with handsome Special Forces Capt. James Cartwright but also begins treating detainees who are torture victims. When violence in Mosul reaches a fever pitch, Leila must choose between her family and what she knows is right. Though Gallaway often resorts to clichés and the trajectory of the story is predictable, she doesn't flinch from depicting the everyday violence of Iraq or the difficult choices of life in a war zone. (Feb.)

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