If you ever need to support the statement that truth is stranger than fiction, this book is the only evidence you will need. Whenever I speak to a friend about it, the first question he will ask is, "Is this fiction?" And, as always, with hidden glee, I say no.
The moment I saw a review of this book in The Economist earlier this year, it was love at first sight. I wrote to the Australian publishers (The University of Melbourne Press) of this book and eventually got the permission to publish it for the Indian market. You can see the Australian and Indian covers here.
The book rapidly moves from one climax to the next, like a John Grisham novel. The final climax is the aftermath of September 11, 2001 - the US bombing of Afghanistan. By this point in the biography, the Australian protagonist, Rabaih Hutchinson, is the second wife of Abu Walid, a senior leader of the al-Qaeda. She had previously married and effectively divorced a string of staunch Muslim men in Indonesia and Pakistan. She is forced to flee Afghanistan and lives under house arrest in Iran for 2 years before moving back to Australia, where she is considered a threat to national security, for dubious reasons, according to the author. For a girl who grew up in a sleepy Australian suburb and dated a young surfing star, this is quite a journey.
