Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks

Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER - Pulitzer Prize winning author presents the stories of a wide range of Muslim women in the Middle East. As an Australian American and an experienced foreign correspondent, Brooks' thoughtful analysis attempts to understand the precarious status of women in the wake of Islamic fundamentalism.

"Frank, enraging, and captivating." - The New York Times

Nine Parts of Desire is the story of Brooks' intrepid journey toward an understanding of the women behind the veils, and of the often contradictory political, religious, and cultural forces that shape their lives. Defying our stereotypes about the Muslim world, Brooks' acute analysis of the world's fastest growing religion deftly illustrates how Islam's holiest texts have been misused to justify repression of women, and how male pride and power have warped the original message of a once liberating faith.

As a prizewinning foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Geraldine Brooks spent six years covering the Middle East through wars, insurrections, and the volcanic upheaval of resurgent fundamentalism. Yet for her, headline events were only the backdrop to a less obvious but more enduring drama: the daily life of Muslim women.

Geraldine Brooks is the author of four books, including March, which won the Pulitzer Prize, and Caleb's Crossing, People of the Book, and Year of Wonders, which were all international blockbusters. She has also written the nonfiction titles Nine Pieces of Desire and Foreign Letters, both of which have received critical praise. Caleb's Crossing, her most recent novel, was a finalist for the Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction and won the New England Book Award for Fiction and the Christianity Today Book Award. She was born and reared in Australia and now lives with her husband, novelist Tony Horwitz, on Martha's Vineyard. This is her debut novel.