The Kurdish Bike

This award-winning novel is quickly becoming a book club favorite, and is widely considered to be the definitive classic on modern village Kurds. Based on a true story, The Kurdish Bike follows Theresa Turner, an American teacher who takes a job in northern Iraq in 2010. Responding to an online ad asking for "courageous teachers to help rebuild a war-torn country," she finds herself working in a repressive school for elites. She yearns to experience a more "real" Kurdistan, and buys a bicycle, which lets her explore the nearby villages and countryside. When she is befriended by a village widow, Theresa is embroiled in the joys and agonies of traditional Kurds, especially the women who survived Saddam's genocide only to be crippled by age-old restrictions, female genital mutilation (FGM), brutality and honor killings. Theresa's greatest challenge will be balancing respect for cultural values while trying to introduce more enlightened attitudes toward women at the same...