The Homegrown

What does it take to make a man turn against his country and join the Jihadists? Today, as suicide bombs and terrorist attacks devastate all corners of the globe, this question consumes all of us. Now, author Harry Deshpande’s debut novel, The Homegrown, comes all too close to home to explore the journey of an educated Danish citizen, who is confronted by circumstances that compel him to unfathomable ends. With Deshpande’s effort to lift the veil on the lethal exchange at play on the international stage, readers who seek a deeper understanding of the global dynamics that are compromising world peace will find invaluable insight into the mind of the converted.

When recent college graduate Anwar, a Muslim born in Denmark, marries Nahgma, an Indian Muslim, her prosperous father is keen to celebrate the union by treating them to a honeymoon in Hawaii. However, Anwar’s father has a markedly different idea in mind to launch their marriage: a visit to the family homeland of Pakistan to acquaint the new bride with Pashtun culture. Reluctantly agreeing, Anwar finds himself in the province of Quetta, and in the forbidding company of Hamid, a member of his extended family who has a palpable madness in his eyes.

Regrettably, this meeting will forever alter Anwar’s worldview. When he takes up Hamid's offer to visit a site of American attack as proof that the United States is targeting innocents, Anwar lands in the middle of a skirmish between American Special Forces and the jihadist elements. From there, one traumatic event after another calls into question Anwar’s accepted Danish mores, his relationship with his new bride, and his comprehension of Denmark’s complicity to Pakistani atrocities at the hands of Americans.

From there, rigorous Jihadist brainwashing quickly transforms a benign Western accountant into an avowed Muslim with a new wife, for whom he has a passion that even surprises him. With that love rendered asunder, Anwar now has the fire to enact the unimaginable, right in his once-beloved Denmark.

With each turn, The Homegrown charts the grave and all-too-common trajectory from world citizen to public enemy, casting crucial light on why terrorists succeed with their message of hatred, and why the United States may be losing in the war of propaganda.

Read a few words from the book at http://www.thehomegrown.info