Masha Hamilton’s fifth novel,
What Changes Everything
, is truly an American story: an exploration of our twisted, misguided, generous relationship with an enigmatic country — Afghanistan. It is the story of Clarissa, who in a gamble to save her kidnapped husband’s life makes the best decisions she can in the dark nights of Brooklyn, boldly rejecting the advice of U.S. authorities. It is also the story of Stela, who owns a used bookstore in Ohio and writes letter after letter in hopes of comprehending the loss of a son on an Afghan battlefield. And it's the stories of Mandy, the mother of a gravely wounded soldier from Texas, Danil, an angry Brooklyn street artist, and Todd, a career aid worker who for a moment let down his guard in a Kabul marketplace. At the same time,
tells the stories of two Afghans: Najibullah, the former president of Afghanistan during the Communist era, and Amin — a fictional character, unlike Najib — who as a boy tried to save Najibullah and failed, and who now risks his own life in a driven effort to help Todd.