Every day is a country.

Fate's Ballot is a novel about a single day: January 30th 2005. Across Iraq, people line up to vote in the first election since the war. But what is freedom, really, in a country where oppression seems to come more easily than liberty, shame more easily than honor, and death more easily than life?

This is the question that plays out not in the polling booth, but on the streets themselves of Baghdad, as the day presents six strangers with the choice of whether to embrace destiny, or confront it. An American soldier and a Kurdish doctor whose fight for the life of a patient becomes a struggle to understand their own hearts. A Canadian journalist confronted by a story his words cannot capture. An Iraqi interpreter torn between the men she loves and her own independence. A policeman who must weigh his family’s future against the life of an innocent victim. And, an insurgent who must decide if he believes in freedom, or in fate.

As each character recounts their version of the day, the threads of their stories intertwine to form a compelling tapestry of a city at war with itself. Drawing on the theme of the election, the novel explores how the choices others make become our own destiny. As such, Fate's Ballot is a story of humanity trying to find order in chaos. It is a love story. And, it is a subversive critique of America’s war on terror, of the role of religion and identity in politics, and even of the meaning of freedom itself. Against the backdrop of Baghdad’s ancient alleyways, and drawing on its rich cultural heritage, every detail and decision propels its six storytellers through a day of love, shame, vengeance, and hope towards a conclusion that is both heartbreaking - and inspiring. ( )