A Door in the Earth by Amy Waldman (The Submission) follows Parveen, an idealistic Afghan American anthropology student who travels to a tiny village in Afghanistan to conduct research and help out at a clinic set up by a charismatic American philanthropist named Gideon Crane. Parveen is one of many Americans who receives Gideon Crane's message with enthusiasm bordering on religious zeal. Through Crane's book Mother Afghanistan, Parveen feels connected to her country of birth in a way that has often proved elusive.
Because the story takes place in 2008, readers benefit from hindsight in a way that Parveen cannot. Some, for example, might note the similarities between Gideon Crane's story and that of Greg Mortenson, the controversial philanthropist and author of Three Cups of Tea. Parveen is young and idealistic, however, and she struggles to reconcile Crane's inspiring memoir with the Afghan community that she encounters. Soon, however, U.S. soldiers arrive, and the war follows them. The Americans offer aid in the form of a new, better road to the village, even though most of the villagers don't have cars.
A Door in the Earth is more than a critique of strategy, of course. Parveen is a study in divided loyalties, not at home with the soldiers or the villagers. The idealism that brought her to the village is of little use when she gets there. As the war creeps ever closer, Parveen is forced to make decisions that have no right answers, decisions that will have life and death consequences for the people around her. In the process, she leaves the easy certainties of youth behind. --Hank Stephenson, bookseller, Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, N.C.