Additional Information:

Release Date: September 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5786901-6-9
LCCN: 2018968619
Teacher Discount: A discount of 20% is available for orders of 5 or more copies. Use discount code STORYTELLERS20.
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Here.

SYNOPSIS

Luke is an American kid, in a place he doesn’t understand.

In this multicultural thriller, a teenager who loves music is angry with his father, blaming his parents’ divorce on his dad’s obsession with finishing a book about a lost ancient civilization in a dangerous part of Asia. But his father badly wants his son to understand—so he brings Luke to Peshawar, an age-old crossroads city in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier. To punish his dad, Luke refuses to learn anything about the project, and instead, is drawn into the strange, intriguing Old City, where a violent new extremism is on the rise.

Luke is dazzled by the beautiful Danisha, but they can’t ever be seen together. He’s recruited by her brother to assist the jihadis, but he also bonds with Yusuf, an Afghan refugee who knows what could happen to friends of jihadis. Then there are the musicians Luke befriends, and a mysterious Sufi teacher who opens his eyes.

Street of Storytellers is about three families across two cultures. It’s about an ancient true story the world has almost forgotten. And it’s about thinking for yourself—even when that puts your life at risk.

PRAISE

“Street of Storytellers is a storytelling delight, following the journey of a teenage American boy into the teeming bazaars of Pakistan and a world of musicians, refugees, scholars, and the religious fanatics who will become the followers of Osama bin Laden. The story is rich in detail and suspense. Young Luke, resentful of his father’s research project and unwilling to learn about the culture around him, ends up learning more than he could ever have expected.”
– David Moats, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist

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“Street of Storytellers is a vivid and layered novel of family angst, clashing cultures, navigating friendships, first love, and wisdom versus extremism amid frightening political and religious tensions in 1984 Pakistan—as told by Luke, a 15-year-old American who did not want to be there. Wilhelm skillfully weaves history into dramatic youth fiction that is both a personal story and a perspective on world events today.”
– Deborah Rodriguez, author of Kabul Beauty School and The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul

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“An exciting adventure story of a young American boy in a historic but dangerous part of our world.”
– Timeri N. Murari, author of The Taliban Cricket Club

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“Wilhelm, a former journalist who traveled to Pakistan to interview young people in the 1980s, offers an American teenager's perspective on a pivotal moment in modern world history. The main character, Luke, explores his own evolving thoughts about history, religion, friendship, family, and music as he faces tough choices and harsh realities against a backdrop of growing tensions in Peshawar during the Afghan War. A complex and thought-provoking YA novel.”

– S. S. Taylor, author of The Expeditioners series

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“An entertaining, thoughtful look at a complicated historical, religious, artistic, and cultural crossroads.”
– Kirkus Reviews, read the full review here.

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“This part-coming of age, part-historical novel had me from the beginning with its superb writing and suspense. I read this in one sitting and was fascinated. A story that takes place in the 80s with flashbacks of certain events has such impressive details of everything involved I felt I was right beside the characters seeing everything so vividly. This is a perfect book for adults and young adults as well who enjoy multicultural thriller fiction.”

– theweekendbooker, book blogger

CRITICS’ REVIEWS

Wilhelm writes young-adult novels about adolescent boys in a bind who use their wits to get through. Most famously, he wrote The Revealers, which tells the story of a middle school kid who figures out a way to confront the bullies in his school….Wilhelm has now written a new novel in this genre, called Street of Storytellers (Rootstock Publishing 2019). Same genre, yes -- an American 15-year-old with family problems -- but it moves way beyond the scope of his earlier work. The setting is Peshawar, Pakistan, in the 1980s. The young protagonist and narrator, Luke, must first confront his “Western” problems -- his parents are divorced and his father is obsessively devoted to his own work at his son’s expense. But Luke also finds himself in the midst of cultural upheaval in Pakistan and he must choose his loyalties, with devastating consequences if he misses.

—Bernie Lambek, author of Uncivil Liberties (read the full review in The Montpelier Bridge here)

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Wilhelm's writing is clean and smart. When he describes a street bazaar or two people speaking in a "crackle-edged language," the setting comes to life. Though the book works hard to illustrate the complexities of another time and culture, Wilhelm's narrator is distinctly American — a wise choice in a time when the literary world is rightly questioning whether it's appropriate for white people to tell the stories of people of color.

—Margaret Grayson, staff writer, Seven Days VT newspaper (read the full review here)

IN THE NEWS

Addison Independent, Oct. 14, 2019: Doug Wilhelm's book is 38 years in the making. “As a young adult novelist, Doug Wilhelm knows that if you don’t pull the reader in right away, ‘you’re done.’ Nothing is different about the way he starts his 17th and newest book, Street of Storytellers . . .” Read the full article here.