Rumors circulated that Deborah Rodriguez (Kabul Beauty School) was a Christian running a brothel instead of a hair-styling school in Afghanistan. Then her Afghan husband talked of an aborted bombing on the school and her younger son was in danger of being kidnapped, so Rodriguez took her youngest and fled Kabul, abandoning nearly everything (including her marriage). Depressed and afraid, she lived in the mountains of California for two years, battling PTSD and in an on-again, off-again romantic relationship. After years of living on high alert, suddenly Rodriguez "was an emotional basket case... even getting dressed in the morning would suddenly make me burst into tears."
A chance cruise to Mexico, with a stop in the port city of Mazatlán, opened doors. She bought a house and gradually made a circle of friends in the city's large expat community. As the beauty and serenity of Mexican culture slowly seeped into Rodriguez's bones, she searched for a way to make a living outside of the cosmetology world, which she wanted to avoid.
With honesty and pluck, Rodriguez entwines the day-to-day details of being an American in Mexico with humorous and life-altering shopping adventures to Pátzcuaro and Guadalajara and the unexpected arrival of her older son, events that made her rethink her position. Rodriguez's story vibrates with the determination of a woman who wants to make a difference in the lives of others in the only way she knows: teach them to do hair. --Lee E. Cart, freelance writer and book reviewer