Still Come Home
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When the odds are stacked against you, doing everything right still might not be enough to protect yourself and the ones you love.
The three characters in Katey Schultz’s novel are each searching for the best way to be, the best way to live—all the while fighting cultural, societal, and political forces far beyond their control. As their paths intersect over the span of three days, Still Come Home explores how their decisions will forever alter each other’s lives.
Aaseya, an ambitious, educated Afghan girl, struggles to walk the line between social disgrace and faith that her hometown of Imar can unharden and heal. Though she cannot bear her older husband, Rahim, a child, and she suspects her sister-in-law played a part in her family’s murder, Aaseya maintains self-reliance and dignity by rebelling against the misogyny and violence surrounding her.
Second Lieutenant Nathan Miller blames himself for the death of a soldier under his command and worries that his constant absence from his North Carolina home has permanently damaged his marriage. Though he believes his final mission is purely about “winning hearts and minds,” nothing could be further from the truth. As he leads Spartan Platoon to the remote village of Imar, a dangerous plot, much larger than the mission itself, unfolds.
When Rahim learns that the Taliban, whom he reluctantly works for, are hatching this violent plan, conflicting loyalties to country, to enduring peace, and to his young wife take all three down a road that will change their lives forever.
Exploring the tensions between loyalty to self and loyalty to country, Still Come Home reveals how three vastly different lives meet this challenge head-on, learning first-hand that remaining true to one’s self is the only way to survive, no matter the cost.
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Advance Praise
Still Come Home, is a stunning and deeply lyrical tour de force. The tension and interplay between three alternating voices—an Afghan woman, an American soldier, and a reluctant Taliban recruit—allow us to understand the characters’ struggles in a way that no single perspective could, and Schultz’s ability to enter into their radically different lives is nothing short of breathtaking. There is tragedy here, but also humor, moral blindness along with deep courage, and the desert holds it all. The sand and dust and changing sky of this novel are, like the prose itself, like the story Schultz gives us, at once devastating and gorgeous and utterly mesmerizing.
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Aaseya reaches the crossroad and knows she should turn around. Leaving the water pail with Shanaz is a necessary exception—even Rahim grants her permission. But it wasn’t so long ago she left her burqa at home and walked in public with her father. Now, to remain outside the home unattended, Aaseya should shrink at the thought. She’s one of only a few women who still pushes this boundary in Imar. It’s not in her nature to hold anything back. Not hope. Not fear. Perhaps most of all, not ambition.
She turns down the main thoroughfare where a few rusted cars are parked haphazardly, half on the pedestrian pathway, half in the road. A blue scooter lies in a ditch, its kickstand mangled. She crosses the street to avoid its path; no one has dared go near it for years, the prevailing rumor being that it was planted with a bomb. Imar had only seen two such ambushes in Aaseya’s lifetime, both manned by a suicidal mujahideen on a scooter aiming for Americans who patrolled the village frequently during those early years of fighting. Seeing the scooter sets Aaseya’s suspicions reeling again. She’s heard about fellow villagers swapping allegiances throughout the war. Her father was resourceful enough to outwit such dishonesty, though in the end, what did his skill matter? The abandoned scooter—in a village with no gas stations, no electricity—only confirms one thing: betrayal and indignation share the same bed in Imar.
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