Katey Schultz Weaves Together the Lives of Three in War-Torn Afghanistan in “Still Come Home”
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In this episode 218, we visit with Katey Schultz, multiple award-winning author of “Still Come Home,” a novel surrounding the lives of three characters in Afghanistan: an Afghan girl with dreams and ambitions beyond the confines of her misogynistic society, an American soldier about to embark on one last mission, and a man working for the Taliban—not for any specific hatred of Americans, but because the money is good and he wishes to provide to his young wife.
The lives of Aaseya, Nathan Miller, and Rahim (Aaseya’s husband) are forever intertwined as the Taliban hatch a dangerous plot, and a simple mission for humanitarian aid turns deadly.
Abigail DeWitt, author of “News of Our Loved Ones,” had this to say about the book, “Schultz’s ability to enter into these radically different lives is nothing short of breathtaking. There is tragedy here, but also humor, moral blindness, along with deep courage. And the desert holds it all.”
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About the Author:
Katey Schultz is the author of Flashes of War, which the Daily Beast praised as an “ambitious and fearless” collection, and Still Come Home, a novel, both published by Loyola University Maryland. Honors for her work include North Carolina’s Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, the Linda Flowers Literary Award, Doris Betts Fiction Prize, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year award, gold and silver medals from the Military Writers Society of America, the Chicago Writer’s Association Book of the Year award, five Pushcart nominations, a nomination to Best American Short Stories, National Indies Excellence recognition, and writing fellowships in eight states. She lives in Celo, North Carolina, and is the founder of Maximum Impact, a transformative mentoring service for creative writers that has been recognized by both CNBC and the What Works Network.
Additional Endorsements
“… a remarkable book, impressive in its breadth and depth of story, engaging with its finely-drawn characters, and breathtaking in its pace.”
- David Abrams, author of Fobbit and Brave Deeds
“Start reading and before you know it, you’re miles inside these characters’ lives…By the end, there is much to consider, much to hope for and wish away. Schultz’s razor-sharp syntax casts a spell that lasts through the book itself, and when it’s done, readers will long for whatever place they recognize as home, too.”
- John Mauk, author of Field Notes for the EarthBound
“Still Come Home took me deep into the chasm between love of country and love of family. As I watched Schultz’s characters face impossible decisions with an indomitable will to live, I started highlighting passages I really loved. Pretty soon, I was highlighting entire pages—that’s how good this is.”
- Desiree Cooper, author of Know the Mother
“Katey Schultz’s Still Come Home is an acutely perceptive novel about survival and conscience in war. Her three main protagonists — a young Afghan woman, an unwilling Taliban peon, and a US soldier — are all struggling in their own ways to find a path through chaos and tragedy while retaining their humanity. The result is a deeply engaging novel about the moral quest of all human hearts: how to do right in a world full of wrong.”
- Helen Benedict, author of Wolf Season and The Lonely Soldier
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