Rea Keech – författare

The Islamic revolution in Iran did not arise out of thin air. For years, the country had seethed with repressed resentment of the Shah''s heavy-handed, authoritarian policies. Illegal societies operated underground, some tracing back to the beginning of the Shah''s reign. Nationalists, socialists, Marxists, and Islamic leftists and reformers--all with somewhat different agendas--juggled for influence and support. The universities, mosques, and tea houses were filled with discussions that ranged from the theoretical to the seditious. This novel presents a heart-warming picture of the Iranian people who befriend, guide, love, and laugh at Marco, a young American teaching at the University of Tehran when forces opposing the Shah were gathering strength. Marco naively assumes at first that U.S. help is wanted and appreciated by the Iranians, but soon he comes to see himself--in the eyes of some--as an instrument of the West''s arrogant assertion of control. And then he falls in love.

This contemporary take on Flaubert’s Emma and Charles Bovary quickly becomes a satire of suburban American life in the immediate pre-Trump years.

Emma Bovant has lost her job but struggles to keep up appearances even though her family can’t match the pampered lifestyle of her friends from “the Estates.” Her dissatisfaction with her position in society, like Emma Bovary’s, is caused partly by reading—in this case of articles like “Exotic Vacation Getaways to Enrich Your Life” and “Designing the Perfect Second Home.”

Emma’s simple, naïve husband is no help. As long as there are no preservatives, pesticides, or growth hormones in his food, he is content. He has no ambition and believes no ill of anyone, which causes trouble when the glamorous real estate developer Bea hires him as a life coach and lures him away to New York, leaving Emma to care for their third-grader Todd by herself.

For solace, Emma turns to their unmarried, eccentric friend Andre. He is gay, attractive, and totally unconcerned with what he calls Emma’s first-world problems. Partly under his influence, Emma abandons her struggle to meet the expectations of wealthy neighbors, begins tutoring an immigrant family, and comes to their aid when the corrupt county executive stages an Immigration raid as a political ploy.

When Emma uncovers a conspiracy by Bea and her pastor Mitch Rainey to defraud Andre and his neighbors of their property in order complete their Riverside Paradise development, it is up to her to stop it.

A school shooting and groundswell of demand to arm teachers moves the satire of suburban America into the Trump era in Shady Park Panic, Book 2 of the Shady Park Chronicles Series.

Anthony, the reporter from Book 1, First World Problems, now becomes the focus. When he submits his report that it was unarmed teachers who subdued the assailant while two parents who had claimed to be armed for personal protection fled the scene, his publisher deletes those details. It’s not what the public wants to read, and, besides, as Anthony finds out, the Ledger publisher is lending his support to a pro-gun, anti-immigrant politician in return for a favor.

The assailant had aimed his gun at a parent in a hejab. But a mystery develops when it is discovered that, although a teacher was wounded, it was not the assailant’s gun that fired the shot. Bea, an evangelistic School Board member, falsely claims she saw the woman in the hejab fire the shot, and it’s up to Anthony to prove the woman’s innocence and find out who actually shot the teacher.

The publisher’s daughter leaves the paper—and Anthony—to take up with a TV news anchor and starts broadcasting false reports that stir up fear of terrorism. Anthony falls in love with her replacement, the beautiful Pari, who encourages him to keep reporting the truth despite the publisher’s threats to fire both of them. Together they reveal how Bea and her cronies have schemed to cash in on the fear of terrorism they helped to spread.

A high school teacher in danger of being fired for objecting to the new alt-right textbooks steps up to defend a student who has been receiving unwanted nude pictures on his phone from a girl he hardly knows—and then she starts receiving nude pictures herself. Nicole loses her job but meets Ralph, the editor of the Shady Park newspaper, who suspects that a member of the board of education has been confiscating nude pictures from students for his own pleasure and profit. Nicole falls in love with Ralph, and their happiness seems secured, but then the police call her in for questioning.

This edition contains all three novels in the Shady Park Chronicles:

First World Problems - When Emma uncovers a conspiracy of real estate developers to get Charles away from her and get her friend's property away from him, it is up to her to stop it.

Shady Park Panic - A school shooting and groundswell of demand to arm teachers challenges a young reporter for the Shady Park Ledger to find out and report what really happened.

Shady Park Secrets - A timid high school teacher in danger of being fired for objecting to the new alt-right textbooks required in her school steps up to defend a student who has been receiving unwanted nude pictures on his phone from a girl he hardly knows--and then she starts receiving nude pictures herself.

Another novel of international love and intrigue by the prize-winning author of A Hundred Veils.

 In 1969 Japan, Emiko''s father has gone to Tokyo to support students protesting the Vietnam War-but hasn''t come back. Then suddenly her mother dies. Alone and in despair, twenty-year-old Emiko abandons her factory job to go searching for her missing father.

 To survive in Tokyo, she stays at a hostel in the seedy Sanya neighborhood and takes a job as hostess in a bar where she''s required to "talk cute," which goes against her grain.

 She''s previously refused an offer to become the second wife of the rich Genji, twice her age, who had been in love with her mother. But when she''s fired and out of money, in desperation she goes to Genji''s office, hoping for a loan. Genji has something else in mind.

 Emiko nearly gives up finding her father when she meets Juan, an American soldier recovering from a battle injury. Now she''s in love with a soldier in the war she and her father have been denouncing for years.

 Uncertain Luck provides a vivid picture of the persistence of love at a time of political conflict in Japan.

それは一九六九年のことだ。絵未子の父はベトナム反戦運動の学生たちを支援するために東京へ行ったが、それきり帰ってこなかった。そうしているうちに絵未子の母が急死した。絶望の中で、二十歳の絵未子は地元の工場での仕事を捨て、行方のわからない父を探しに東京へ行った。

東京で、絵未子は、ベトナムの戦地で負傷して治療のために日本に来ていたアメリカ兵のファンと出会った。それまで、彼女も彼女の父もアメリカ軍を長年ずっと非難してきたが、そのアメリカ軍の兵士と、絵未子は恋に落ちた。

Another novel of international love and intrigue by the prize-winning author of A Hundred Veils.

In 1969 Japan, Emiko''s father has gone to Tokyo to support students protesting the Vietnam War-but hasn''t come back. Then suddenly her mother dies. Alone and in despair, twenty-year-old Emiko abandons her factory job to go searching for her missing father.

To survive in Tokyo, she stays at a hostel in the seedy Sanya neighborhood and takes a job as hostess in a bar where she''s required to "talk cute," which goes against her grain.

She''s previously refused an offer to become the second wife of the rich Genji, twice her age, who had been in love with her mother. But when she''s fired and out of money, in desperation she goes to Genji''s office, hoping for a loan. Genji has something else in mind.

Emiko nearly gives up finding her father when she meets Juan, an American soldier recovering from a battle injury. Now she''s in love with a soldier in the war she and her father have been denouncing for years.

Uncertain Luck provides a vivid picture of the persistence of love at a time of political conflict in Japan.

From the prize-winning author of A Hundred Veils-

Nebulous Enemies is a suspenseful story of love and intrigue in Afghanistan as aid workers fear the looming withdrawal of American forces protecting them from the Taliban.

In Baltimore, Roger''s wife suddenly disappears, and although their relationship was never normal, he leaves the States to pursue her in Afghanistan, suspecting she has run off with Lyle, a U.S. contractor working there. In Kabul he is shocked to find out the horrible crimes his wife and Lyle have committed.

Lyle threatens Roger''s life, and Roger finds that Lyle is also a danger to Sophie, a Belgian aid worker who teaches Afghan women. For them, Lyle is an even more immediate threat than the Taliban bombings plaguing the city, and Roger''s goal is now to save Sophie and himself.

Nebulous Enemies is a condemnation of the corruption of some mercenary overseas military contractors and a testament to the bravery of the idealistic aid workers who remained there to the last minute trying to help the Afghan people.