AND THEN THERE WERE TWO…. A handful of survivors, a killer among them—amd two former lovers caught in the cross fire…. Elizabeth Boothe was grateful to be alive after the wreckage of her ill-fated flight. But even as she and pilot Seth Brody waited for a rescue plane, neither could deny what was happening between them. Their past differences melted away as easily as the snow beneath their heated bodies. Yet their rediscovered passion could not protect them from danger. There was a killer on the loose, and no way off the mountain. But Seth had found Elizabeth again—and no one, not even a murderer, was going to take her away from him….

From the only journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from Iraq, here is a riveting account of ordinary people caught between the struggles of nations Like her country, Karima—a widow with eight children—was caught between America and Saddam. It was March 2003 in proud but battered Baghdad. As night drew near, she took her son to board a rickety bus to join Hussein's army. "God protect you," she said, handing him something she could not afford to give—the thirty-cent fare. The Washington Post's Anthony Shadid also went to war in Iraq although he was neither embedded with soldiers nor briefed by politicians. Because he is fluent in Arabic, Shadid—an Arab American born and raised in Oklahoma—was able to disappear into the divided, dangerous worlds of Iraq. Day by day, as the American dream of freedom clashed with Arab notions of justice, he pieced together the human story of ordinary Iraqis weathering the terrible dislocations and tragedies of war. Through the lives of men and women, Sunnis and Shiites, American sympathizers and outraged young jihadists newly transformed into martyrs, Shadid shows us the journey of defiant, hopeful, resilient Iraq. Moving from battle scenes to subdued streets enlivened only by the call to prayer, Shadid uses the experiences of his characters to illustrate how Saddam's downfall paved the way not only for democracy but also for an Islamic reawakening and jihad. Night Draws Near—as compelling as it is human—is an illuminating and poignant account from a repoter whose coverage has drawn international attention and acclaim.

From the only journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from Iraq, this riveting account illuminates ordinary people caught between the struggles of nations.

An Astrid Lindgren bedtime story available for the first time in English