SPOTLIGHT: Gazelle in the Shadows by Michelle Peach @bookpubservices @MichellePeach16
Gazelle in the Shadows
by Michelle Peach
In the mid 90s, Elizabeth Booth is a young British college student studying Arabic at Durham University. With some travel and work already under her belt, she excels at her studies and is sent to Damascus to immerse herself in the language. Taken aback by the generosity and kindness of the people there, she easy slips into a life in the ancient city. She has friends, her studies, and even a handsome boyfriend. But things aren't always what they seem. Soon, in a world where mistrust and disloyalty are commonplace, Elizabeth finds herself navigating a web of lies, betrayals, and even murder involving MI6, deadly terrorist factions, and the shadowy Syrian secret police.
Praise for Michelle Peach’s Gazelle in the Shadows:
“Compellingly realistic and packed with both psychological and physical action, Gazelle in the Shadows adds an extra layer of cultural understanding to its espionage thriller theme.” -D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“Michelle Peach brings Syrian culture and cityscapes to life with her descriptions and characters… the author is able to accurately capture a specific moment in Middle Eastern history that still has ramifications on modern-day Syrians. For those looking for a glimpse into new cultures with a taste of a spy thriller, Gazelle in the Shadows will both warm your heart and send shivers down your spine.” -Red City Review
“Gazelle in the Shadows is both a coming of age story and a reflection of life in the looking glass world of Hafez al-Asad’s Syria. While told through an intensely personal lens, Michelle’s story provides a sideways look at a Syria that is now gone but also hints at some of the underlying factors that contributed to the country’s ongoing agonies. The book is an unusual combination of bittersweet student memories, geopolitical machinations, and “factionalised” adventures; well worth a read.”– Dr Andrew Rathmell, Author of Secret War in the Middle East: The Covert Struggle For Syria 1949 -1961
Michelle Peach graduated from Durham University
in 1995 with a B.A. in Arabic with Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. During
1992, she spent her second year of college studying abroad at the Arabic
Teaching Institute for Foreigners in Damascus. Since then, Michelle’s love
for Syria has never been far from her thoughts. When the unrest began in
2011, her determination to start writing Gazelle in the
Shadows intensified. “I was distraught and appalled by the suffering of
the people and by the destruction of its historical sites in Aleppo, Palmyra,
Bosra, Homs, Damascus and elsewhere. I know that many will not have the
opportunity to see the sights of Syria due to the ongoing
conflict, but I hope that through my story readers can enjoy the cities,
landscapes and culture of Syria.” Gazelle in the Shadows is set to be
released in September 2018, published by IngramSpark.
Michelle lives in Atlanta, GA. She is a
stay-at-home mom, married with three children. Readers can connect
with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. To
learn more, go to https://michellepeach.com/
EXCERPT
Excerpt
from Gazelle in the Shadows by Michelle Peach
Chapter
One
With my legs bunched up near my chin, I
buried my face into my knees and rocked. I smelled the rusty, iron scent of
blood on my jeans. Strands of long hair that had been pulled out of my braid
after the struggle were sticking to my neck and cheeks, held in place by sweat
and blood. I reached up and felt the sore skin around my neck, where my hood
had been tied. Welts had formed around my wrists, where the ropes had been. I
moaned.
Who are my
kidnappers? Could it be Hezbollah? The Syrian Army? Or the South Lebanese Army?
God, please let it not be Hezbollah.
My heart beat in my
neck at the thought of being held by a terrorist group. I squeezed my knees
even tighter and whimpered from a sudden, sharp pain in my ribs.
I remembered the
Sunday I broke the news to my parents that I was going to study in Damascus.
Mother made me promise that I would not go to Lebanon, even saying that it’s
because she feared Hezbollah.
“Elizabeth, I want to
hear you promise.” She had insisted when I shrugged my shoulders and grinned.
I thought she was
being over-protective, after all Hezbollah had ceased taking hostages three
years ago and released their last captive, Terry Anderson, last year.
It can’t be them.
My heart rate reduced
to a dull thud. So, perhaps it’s the Syrian Army? Adrien had told me during my
last visit to see him at the embassy that the Syrian government knew I was a
former British diplomat, and even though the Syrian Army was in Lebanon, he vouched
that I would be safer there than in Damascus. I trusted Adrien implicitly, as I
had done so with the MI6 officer in my former embassy in Sana’a.
I prayed the Syrians
had picked me up, or even the South Lebanese Army. After all, I told myself,
they are on the same side. I whispered to myself Adrien’s reassurance that I
still had diplomatic immunity, and that this meant I would be released soon and
sent to the British Embassy.
I lifted my head up
and looked around the room. It was dimly lit, with one bare bulb and a fan in
the centre of the ceiling. A grimy, thin mattress lay on the filthy floor, with
an empty nightstand beside it. The one window the room had was crudely boarded
up. I could see daylight, which seeped in from around the ill-fitting plywood.
Gingerly, I stood up gripping my left side as pain seared in my ribcage and
took three steps forward. Through a crack in the board, I could make out a
gravel road and the bonnet of a black car. My field of vision was
disappointingly limited, as I peered in all directions for any clues as to
where I was. I pulled at the wood to see if it was loose, but it had been
nailed to the window frame and then I discovered one, additional barrier. Like
so many homes I had seen in this part of the world, windows on the first floor
were barred, perhaps to keep inhabitants in rather than prevent break-ins. My
hope of a possible escape route was dashed. I collapsed onto the mattress in a
heap and wept.
I thought of my
parents. I couldn’t take my mind off the intense longing I had to see them
again and put my arms around them. I had felt loneliness before, but this was
different. It was an aloneness that you are somewhere in the world where your
loved ones don’t know, nor have any hope of finding you or even dream what is happening
to you. It was an emptiness of unfathomable depth.
I reached up to the
empty nightstand and pulled open its small drawer. I was surprised to find that
it was full of rubbish, which I sifted through. A rush of relief washed over
me, when I saw a pen and a possible scrap of paper to write on.
Then slowly,
I began to write.
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