Tuesday, January 29, 2008
By Paul Ford
Dear EDITOR,
I am proud to send you, in galley, THE VEILS FLEW AWAY LIKE KITES, the first novel by major new talent Isolde Mabuq.
Open it. Sniff it—redolent of mountain snow. The crack of the spine brings to mind the sound of Soviet rifles firing—the first sounds
the protagonist Fatima is able to recall.
Has there ever before been a fictional character like Fatima? At the age of 12 she flies a kite, reads Pnin, menstruates, and bears witness to the murder of her parents by the Taliban. Soon after she is sent to live with American
Christians, and spends a fragile adolescence acclimatizing to the poisonous indifference and callousness of the West before
attending an Ivy-league college where she majors in economics and sleeps with a professor (an adjunct but still). We thrill
as she casts off her grim past to join a Wall Street investment firm, finds love, and indulges in fine sweaters.
It is a tale of triumph told with first-hand knowledge hard-earned by novelist Mabuq, who like the fictional Fatima was born
in Afghanistan, molested in Mississippi, educated at Princeton, and is now 27. Believe me that words do this remarkable new
author little justice, but here are some that try: green-eyed, horsewoman, Dior, NYTBR, endcap. A glossy photo is attached.
The Arcade Fire wrote the foreword.
Sincerely,
PEEK
Ftrain.com is the website of Paul Ford and his pseudonyms. It is showing its age. I'm rewriting the code but it's taking some
time.
FACEBOOK
There is a Facebook group.
TWITTER
You will regret following me on Twitter here.
EMAIL
About the author: I've been running this website from 1997. For a living I write stories and essays, program computers, edit
things, and help people launch online publications. (LinkedIn). I wrote a novel. I was an editor at Harper's Magazine for five years; then I was a Contributing Editor; now I am a free agent. I was also on NPR's All Things Considered for a while. I still write for The Morning News, and some other places.
If you have any questions for me, I am very accessible by email. You can email me at ford@ftrain.com and ask me things and I will try to answer. Especially if you want to clarify something or write something critical. I am
glad to clarify things so that you can disagree more effectively.
«Another Veil-lifter Pitched
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Contact
© 1974-2011 Paul Ford
Recent
@20, by Paul Ford.
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