Survival is hard in a land where no woman can live alone Layla is just thirteen when the men with the beards and guns burn down her beloved father's school and begin to terrorise the Swat valley region of Pakistan. She has to flee, exchanging the tranquil beauty of the Himalayas for the squalor of a camp for refugees from the Taliban near Peshawar. Trying to find out what lies behind mysterious deaths at the camp is foreign correspondent Ellen Thomas. As a strong woman in a man's world, Ellen is used to risking her life to uncover the truth. United by the gentle schoolteacher who had risked his life to save books, the paths of Layla and Ellen collide in a common cause.
Jill McGivering has worked in journalism for 25 years. She is currently a senior foreign news correspondent with the BBC having previously held the position of South Asia Correspondent (based in Delhi). Now based in London, she travels extensively for the BBC including assignments to Afghanistan and China. Her first novel The Last Kestrel charted the lives of two women during the Afghan conflict. Far from my Father's House is her second novel. She has been nominated for Journalist of the Year 2011 at the SONY awards and the One World Media Awards.
