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Also by N.G. Osborne:

Refuge, November 2012
Paperback / e-Book

Refuge
N.G. Osborne

A captivating tale of love between the unlikeliest of people in the unlikeliest of places

Cranham & Keith
November 2012
On Sale: October 24, 2012
Featuring: Charlie Matthews; Noor Khan
464 pages
ISBN: 061569540X
EAN: 2940015580037
Kindle: B009LU196Y
Paperback / e-Book
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Romance

On a dusty, sweltering night, Noor Khan, a beautiful, headstrong Afghan refugee, comes face–to–face with Charlie Matthews, a brash, young American aid worker. To Noor's fury, Charlie breaks every cultural norm and pursues her. She wants nothing to do with him: her sole aim in life is to earn an overseas scholarship so she can escape the miseries of the refugee camps.

However when Noor's brother threatens to marry her off, she is forced to seek refuge in Charlie's home, of all places, and suddenly everything Noor believes in is put into question.

Set in the mystical and seething city of Peshawar, where no one is without an agenda and few can be trusted, Refuge is a timeless and unforgettable love story about the struggle for love and purpose in a cruel and cynical world.

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Comments

10 comments posted.

Re: Refuge

Thank you for your post, N. G. Osborne. I wish more authors would think this way, and write accordingly.

One of the aspects of romance fiction that troubles me most is the fact that so many authors and their works celebrate involuntary matrimony. They romanticize and glorify marriages in which the man and the woman are forced to marry each other, for one reason or another; or marriages that are technically voluntary, but are actually merely marriages of convenience. The first kind strikes me as legalized rape; the second, legalized prostitution. Neither is my romantic ideal.

Sure, romance fiction like this has its fans. I doubt such a reader actually wants to be forced or manipulated into marrying someone she doesn't love. It's all part of the fantasy setup, a convenient way to get the two focal characters together in a dramatic situation. And whereas fictional marriages of this sort always end happily, with the couple truly in love with each other, I can't believe such real-life marriages ever do.

Like you, I hope things are changing for third-world women. But sad to say, they're coming very slowly. And in the meantime there will be a great deal of death and suffering.

Those of us fortunate enough to live in a more progressive society must never take our rights and freedoms for granted. That includes the right to love. And yes, I'm talking about men too!

Good luck with the release of "Refuge".
(Mary Anne Landers 4:40pm November 6, 2012)

Thanks for bringing the injustice that the women in third world countries go through. In some African countries, a woman has to go through a painful ritual just to protect her virginity as well as her honor.

In some countries, if a virgin is compromise, she is drown (basically put to death) to protect the family honor.

In some countries, a mistress is treated better than a wife.

I don't think anyone in the free countries ever think about this. If they do, it is only for a short moment and then forgotten.
(Kai Wong 9:59pm November 6, 2012)

Thank you for writing about ths topic. I believe that violence against women in some cultures is so commonplace as to be disrgarded, thought of as 'normal'. In Egypt we hear that 98 percent of women still have endured FGM although it is supposedly illegal. There, too, aborting a baby on grounds of sex is illegal and women should not get a scan on this basis. Yet when the baby is scanned for health, the doctor will push a pink slip or a blue slip across the table and the parents then 'decide' - I doubt many women choose willingly - not wanting a girl.
When the Taliban has now tried to assassinate a young schoolgirl in Pakistan for writing a blog about how she wants to go to school, we have to look at her miraculous survival as an inspiration to help other women around the world.
(Clare O'Beara 7:39am November 7, 2012)

Living in a free country gives you the opportunity to move beyond tradition and adopt new practices that work for you, your friends and your family. I like that the rigidity of some countries doesn't have a big stake here.
(Alyson Widen 6:09pm November 18, 2012)

This is such a different approach to writing a book, but it is one that I am very happy that you have undertaken. It is time that someone has written about the topic that you chose. I remember reading about a young girl of 10 who wanted to divorce her husband of 30 or 40 some years. The marriage of children to adult men as a means of supporting the family is common place and the law in that country. I cannot remember where it is now, but children should be allowed to be children and not have to be burdened with whether their families have enough money or food. That is the responsibility of the parents.

It is very unsettling to think that parents think of their daughters as second class citizens who have no say in their future. Then there are other countries still in which girls are forced to undergo mutilation so their future husband does not have to worry about her straying. More awareness should be brought to these practices and they need to be eradicated.

I am thankful that I live in a country where I have the freedom to choose and take an active part in my future.
(Angelina Daniels-Shaw 9:56pm November 18, 2012)

thanks!!!!! Can't wait to read:)
(Barbara Studer 7:01am November 19, 2012)

Would love to read!
(Janie Freeman 10:19am November 19, 2012)

Thank you..
(Holly Vanderhule 2:16pm November 19, 2012)

Count me in!
(Sandra Spilecki 4:41pm November 19, 2012)

thank you
(Stephanie Allen 11:03pm November 19, 2012)