Exiles - Tapa dura

"Groner shines a unique light on a remote, exotic land in his self-confident and culturally rigorous debut. His tale of a doctor and his beloved daughter takes a modern-day bent on "Seven Years in Tibet" and shows the country's turmoil with a palette that is as affectionate as it is startling. . . . Even the most jaded reader will be on the edge of their seats as the author carries the story home. A fast-paced but emotionally resonant story about the bonds that hold fast when we're far from home.""--Kirkus Reviews""Groner does an excellent job of capturing the realities of life in this war-torn country, from rampant poverty to the beauty of a cremation ritual to the enduring hope of a besieged people in a spectacular land."--"Booklist ""Exhilarating . . . "Exiles" vividly reveals the difficulty of making moral decisions, and the importance of bonds between people, in a complex world few Americans see."--James A. Levine, author of "The Blue Notebook" "A deeply moving tale of a father and daughter cast adrift in Nepal, "Exiles" shines a steady, compassionate light on the rootlessness of contemporary America."--Stephen Batchelor, author of "Confession of a Buddhist Atheist"""

Opening the door to a Nepal few Westerners have encountered, "Exiles" is the story of an American volunteer doctor and his teenage daughter whose lives are irrevocably changed when they move to Kathmandu and find themselves in the midst of civil war. Fleeing the messy dissolution of his marriage, cardiologist Peter Scanlon decides to take a risk and move with his seventeen-year-old daughter, Alex, to Kathmandu, where he plans to volunteer in a free health clinic. Upon arrival, Peter finds himself in a foreign culture that soon challenges his perspectives and beliefs. Nepal--chronically short of medical supplies, a country where children from rural areas often are sold into prostitution--is home to a growing Maoist insurrection, testing Peter in ways he fails to anticipate. His friendship with a Tibetan Buddhist lama, and their discussions of Eastern and Western perspectives on issues including evolution and its effects on the mind and the nature of existence, shift Peter's framework of understanding. Alex, meanwhile, flourishes as she explores her emerging sexuality and an exciting new culture. Soon, both father and daughter face an ordeal that threatens not just their beliefs but their very physical survival. When Peter is summoned to aid a pair of Western climbers seriously injured on Mt. Annapurna, his and Alex's lives become a nightmare of violence and fear. Suspenseful and thought-provoking, "Exiles" is an extraordinary debut in which East meets West at the point where lives hang in the balance.