THE STORY BEHIND THE STORIES

In the summer of 2008, while I was practicing law and writing books no one wanted to publish, I had an idea for a novel that would open doors long closed to me and inaugurate my journey as an author. 

​

First published in 2012, A Walk Across the Sun went on to be an international bestseller and inspired a multi-year odyssey of travel and research that gave rise to three more novels like it, all deeply steeped in the truth of the world and addressing issues of global human rights.

​

For years, friends encouraged me to try my hand at nonfiction. "Your books already read like it," they said. I told them, "Find me a true story that I can write with the narrative tension and emotional intimacy of a novel and that will captivate readers from the first page to the last, and I'll tell it."

​

Wastelands is that story. I hope to write many more like it.