Farishta

Table of Contents

 

 

 

RIVERHEAD BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group

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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R οRL, England

Copyright © 2011 by Patricia McArdle

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

 

Published simultaneously in Canada

 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

 

McArdle, Patricia.
Farishta / Patricia McArdle. p. cm.

eISBN : 978-1-101-51531-0

1. Women diplomats—Fiction. 2. Americans—Afghanistan—Fiction.
3. Loss (Psychology)—Fiction. 4. Afghanistan—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3613.C266F
813'.6—dc22

 

 

 

The opinions and characterizations in this book are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent official positions of the United States Government.

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

 

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Farishta
is dedicated to the soldiers and civilians
who are risking their lives every day
to bring peace to Afghanistan.
✦

April 1983
✦ BEIRUT, LEBANON

“Ange, I don’t think you should be riding anymore until after the baby’s born.” My husband made this not unexpected announcement as we led our horses, still breathing hard, through the paddock and under the shaded archway of the old brick barn.

“You can’t be serious, Tom. I’d go nuts if we couldn’t get out of the city every Saturday for these rides.”

Mohammed, the stableman who cared for the horses at the Kattouah Riding Club as if they were his own children, stepped out of an unused stall where he had been grilling his lunch over a small clay brazier. He had two lamb brochettes in his hand. He couldn’t understand a word we were saying, but he sensed the tension between us and was planning to defuse it with food.
“Salaam aleikum,”
he greeted, flashing his gap-tooth smile, handing us the sticks of sizzling meat and taking the reins from our hands. “This good, you like!”