David Massey lives in Great Britain, so it makes sense that his protagonist is also Britain. Private Elinor Nielson tells us the terrifying story of war in Afghanistan. Having this story told by Elinor gives us a different view of the Americans in Afghanistan. This provided some very interesting commentary for my students, who were aware of conflict there but unaware of the larger world's involvement. This gave us a great additional topic of conversation.
Probably the very best part about reading Torn was that David Massey was willing to meet with us via skype when we were ready to discuss the book. He joined us for lunch and we had a fascinating dialog with him!
The students were especially interested to learn how he came up with his ideas for this story, and they were amazed as David shared that the idea for the story came from the haunting picture of the young girl on a National Geographic magazine years ago. Of course, they also wanted to know what he is writing now (and we can't wait to get our hands on it!) They were also extremely interested in David's "real life". David and his wife run an emergency supply business, providing equipment and supplies for people faced with a terrorist attack or natural disaster.
We are looking forward to the US release of David's book, Taken, which was just released in the UK. David told us the book was about a group of friends on a perfect humanitarian trip to Africa when they are attacked by pirates and must fight for their release. Doesn't it sound exciting? We can't wait!
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