COMING APRIL 21
“Compelling and beautifully written, this is one of the most important books Americans could read,”
— Cara Hoffman, author of
Running, Be Safe, I Love You and So Much Pretty
"As this powerful and brilliantly nuanced novel shows, the lasting damage the U.S. invasion caused is not over for any of them, but each in their own way is trying to find a way to carry on."
—Matt Witt,
World Wide Work Substack
"A pertinent, rich portrait of displaced lives reshaped by conflict and its enduring consequences,"
—Booklist
"The Soldier's House is an important novel for our time, adding crucial depth of compassion and complexity to our understanding of war's trauma and the importance of forgiveness and healing,"
—Kate Manning, author of My Notorious Self and Gilded Mountain
In The Soldier’s House, Helen Benedict tells the story of an Iraq War veteran who saves the lives of his assassinated Iraqi interpreter’s widow, child, and mother by bringing them to his upstate New York home. For the soldier, this is a way of making amends, but the widow finds being rescued by the enemy both humiliating and compromising. This is a compassionate tale that examines whether redemption and forgiveness are even possible in the wake of war. In light of the increasing displacement of people all over the world, The Soldier’s House is particularly timely and poignant.
NOW ON SUBSTACK
THE SOLDIER'S HOUSE
Having cleared immigration when we first landed at Kennedy Airport, we are not required to do so again in Albany. Nonetheless, as I carry Tariq past the customs officials, Hibah grumbling beside me, I know how conspicuous we must look, three obvious Muslims without a single suitcase between us. A familiar dread washes through me, an iced finger on the spine.
As I expect, an officer calls us over, a paste-colored man with stiff yellow hair and narrow gray eyes.
“Bags?"
“Sir, all our luggage, it is lost.”
His eyes flicker to my scar and then to Hibah’s hijab.
“Passports.”
I present these quickly, along with our visas and the sponsorship form from Sergeant Donnell, all of which the officer examines for so long the ice creeps to my throat.
“Proof of lost luggage,” he barks next with the same lack of civility always applied by those in authority.
I hand him the copy of my report. He squints at it for another interminable stretch.
“Ok. Go.”
Thrusting the paper back at me, he stares at Tariq with open distaste.
I pull my little one to my chest and hurry away. I am always so careful to close up his trousers on the left side, to cut the empty leg short and sew it into a tidy seam so as to protect him from just such looks as this.
On the far side of Baggage Claim, I search the hurrying crowds again for the soldier-girl Kate, but see nothing of her. A man is looking at us, though, a tall, broad-chested man with glaring white skin, cropped black hair, and a military bearing. Even from this distance and behind his brown-framed glasses, his eyes gleam a preternatural blue. He isn’t in uniform, only jeans and a brown T-shirt, but as he marches up to us, I know it is him.
“Are you Oum Tariq?”
He has a mild voice, middling in tone, slurred in that American way. A surprisingly gentle voice for a killer.
“I am.”
“I’m Jimmy Donnell. Welcome to the US! So relieved you made it at last. I can’t . . . I can’t believe you’re actually here.”
I peer behind him.
“Your wife, where is she?”
“She . . .”
He shakes his head as if to put his tongue back in place.
“She couldn’t come. I’m sorry.”
Kate Brady promised to be here. Surely this soldier doesn’t expect us to get into his car with him without his wife. No respectable woman would.
“But . . . so she is waiting for us at your house?”
“Uh, no. Sorry.”
“But she will return soon?”
“I don’t know—I’ll explain later. So sorry . . .”
Three times already he has apologized. And each time has only brought bad news.
ABOUT
Helen Benedict
Helen Benedict, a British-American professor of journalism at Columbia University, is the author of nine novels, six books of nonfiction, and a play. Her latest novel, The Good Deed, came out in April 2024 from Red Hen Press, and was named a finalist for the 2025 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
Her forthcoming novel, The Soldier's House, will be published in April 2026.
The Good Deed, set in a refugee camp in Greece, comes out of the research Helen conducted for her 2022 nonfiction book, Map of Hope and Sorrow, co-authored with Syrian writer and refugee, Eyad Awwadawnan and endorsed by Jessica Bruder (Nomadland), Dina Nayari (The Ungrateful Refugee) and Christy Lefteri (The Beekeeper of Aleppo), among others. That book earned PEN's Jean Stein Grant for Literary Oral History in 2021 and praise from The New York Times, The Guardian, Kirkus Reviews, and elsewhere.
"This gut-wrenching collection forcefully documents a humanitarian crisis through the stories of five refugees in asylum purgatory in Greece."—The New York Times
"Map of Hope and Sorrow celebrates human resilience and the capacity for hope, serving as a powerful call for tolerance."—Lucy Popescu, The Guardian
"Gut-wrenching and necessary, this book sharply depicts an escalating humanitarian crisis that shows few signs of slowing down...An important, deeply felt look at lives in constant peril."—Kirkus Reviews
Benedict's previous novel, Wolf Season, was called "required reading" by Elissa Schappell and received a starred review in Library Journal, which wrote, “In a book that deserves the widest attention, Benedict ‘follows the war home,’ engaging readers with an insightful story right up until the gut-wrenching conclusion.”
Benedict's 2011 novel, Sand Queen, which features some of the same characters as Wolf Season, was named a “Best Contemporary War Novel” by Publishers Weekly.
As well as receiving PEN’s Jean Stein Grant for Literary Oral History, Benedict has won the Ida B. Wells Award for Bravery in Journalism and the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, among other awards. She is also the author of the nonfiction books, The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq; Virgin or Vamp: How the Press Covers Sex Crimes; and a play, The Lonely Soldier Monologues.
As a nonfiction writer, Benedict's coverage of sexual assault in the U.S. military inspired the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Invisible War and instigated a landmark lawsuit against the Pentagon on behalf of victims of military sexual assault. Benedict's books on violence against women have won awards from Ms. magazine and elsewhere, and Benedict has published widely and spoken at Harvard University, TED Talks, West Point, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the United Nations, among other campuses and organizations.
CONTACT
To reach Helen Benedict, email hb22@columbia.edu.
To make speaking or media inquiries, please contact Literary Agent/Speaking Agent: Jennifer Lyons