Anthony Marra

"When we first meet Maria Lagana, she's rewriting scripts at Mercury Pictures, a failing Hollywood studio known for its schlock. Maria's job is to re-craft dialogue and action to circumvent the censors, a skill she's mysteriously adept at. Born in Italy, as a teenager Maria witnessed Mussolini's censors arrest her father, an event that will destroy her family and burden Maria with questions of guilt and responsibility she will carry with her throughout...

In a rural village in December 2004 Chechnya, a failed doctor, Akhmed, harbors the traumatized 8-year-old daughter of a father abducted by Russian forces and treats a series of wounded rebels and refugees while exploring the shared past that binds him to the child.

En un pequeño pueblo de Chechenia, Havaa, de ocho años, observa desde el bosque cómo los soldados rusos secuestran a su padre en mitad de la noche y después prenden fuego a su casa. Cuando Akhmed, su vecino de toda la vida, encuentra a Havaa escondida entre los árboles con una extraña maleta azul, toma una decisión que cambiará sus vidas para siempre. Buscará refugio en el hospital semiabandonado de la ciudad vecina, donde la única doctora...