The Durand Line

Product Description It Is March Of 1992 And The Afghan War Economy Has Fostered A Thriving Trade With Neighboring Pakistan. En Route To A Famed And Troubled Border Known As The Durand Line, An American Photographer Witnesses The Murder Of Her Afghan Friend. She Also Finds Herself Holding The Currency For One Of His Business Transactions: Three Stupefyingly Large Emeralds. In A Search For Answers To His Untimely Death, She Determines To Carry Out The Exchange. But In The Hunt For Her FriendS Trade Partner, She Finds Herself The QuarryAn Unwitting Participant In International Realpolitik. Review In The Durand Line, Johnson Brings Together Years Of Experience In South Asia And An Uncommon Flair For Writing To Produce A Uniquely Compelling Tale Of Intrigue Set In PakistanS Wild West. Peter Manuel, Professor, John Jay College And The Graduate Center, Author Of Cassette Culture: Popular Music And Technology In North IndiaitS 1992, The Final Year Of Communist Rule In Afghanistan. Lily Durand, A Slightly Lost ExPat Photographer Living In Peshawar, Pakistan, Sets Out For The Afghan Border With Her Friend Suleiman, Hoping To See The Durand Line, The 1,519Mile ColonialEra Border That Bears Her Name. Along The Way, Suleiman, An Afghan Refugee, Is Mysteriously Shot. As Suleiman Collapses, He Hands Lily A Small Sack Containing Three Colombian Emeralds. She Stashes The Loot In Her Camera And Decides To Complete His Dealings, Though All Suleiman Has Told Her Is That The Emeralds Are Destined For Habib In Delhi, A Rather Useless Clue In India. Nevertheless, The Grieving Lily Embarks On A Journey Through Old DelhiS Colorful, Overwhelming Underbelly In Search Of Answers. In The Process, She Meets Handsome Afghan Refugees, An American Drug Smuggler Qua Travel Agent, Eunuchs, And Members Of The American Consulate. She Also Celebrates The Vibrant Holiday Of Holi And Visits The Taj Mahal, All The While Trying To Elude The Undercover Investigator WhoS Tailing Her. As The Story Snakes Through The Exotic Streets, She And The Motley Crew Around Her Quote Urdu And Persian Poetry To Each Other And Editorialize About The Region. Criminals And Secret Agents Alike Discuss Politics And National Identity Over Liberal Amounts Of Hashish. At Times, The Book Is Overloaded With Nonetheless Helpful Cultural Information, And Its Characters Seem A Bit More Like Mouthpieces Dispensing Nuggets Of Historical Insight Than Vibrant Entities With Plausible Motives. When, After A Love Affair And Several Reversals Of Fortune, Lily Is Shot By A Stranger In A Dark Alley, ItS Difficult To Care A Great Deal. The Dusty, Swirling Civilization Around Her, At Least, WonT Mourn Her Much. An Ambitious, If Somewhat Ponderously Scholarly First Novel. Kirkus DiscoveriesExcellent, A Novel Of Great Insight, Welding The Political With The Personal As A Lost American Woman Tries To Grapple With The Worlds Of India And Afghanistan At A Time Of Enormous Political Turbulence. Ahmed Rashid, Author Of Taliban, Militant Islam, Oil & Fundamentalism In Central Asia And Jihad, The Rise Of Militant Islam In Central Asia Review In The Durand Line, Johnson Brings Together Years Of Experience In South Asia And An Uncommon Flair For Writing To Produce A Uniquely Compelling Tale Of Intrigue Set In PakistanS Wild West. Review ItS 1992, The Final Year Of Communist Rule In Afghanistan. Lily Durand, A Slightly Lost ExPat Photographer Living In Peshawar, Pakistan, Sets Out For The Afghan Border With Her Friend Suleiman, Hoping To See The Durand Line, The 1,519Mile ColonialEra Border That Bears Her Name. Along The Way, Suleiman, An Afghan Refugee, Is Mysteriously Shot. As Suleiman Collapses, He Hands Lily A Small Sack Containing Three Colombian Emeralds. She Stashes The Loot In Her Camera And Decides To Complete His Dealings, Though All Suleiman Has Told Her Is That The Emeralds Are Destined For Habib In Delhi, A Rather Useless Clue In In