“Burning Distance is a double helix of a book, carefully plotted and beautifully told. It’s a spy story interwoven with a love story, and the strands fit together in a way that moves the reader effortlessly from chapter to chapter . . . A subtle and satisfying novel.”
—David Ignatius, journalist and best-selling author
About Joanne
Joanne Leedom-Ackerman is a novelist, short story writer, and journalist. Her fiction includes regional bestseller The Dark Path to the River and No Marble Angels. A former reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, Joanne has won awards for her nonfiction and published fiction, articles and essays in newspapers, magazines, and books.
Praise for Joanne's Fiction
"Well-written, thematically rich. I fell in love with the characters. I didn’t want the pleasure to end."
—Barbara Kingsolver, Poisonwood Bible
"...the writer’s strengths—honesty, compassion and the ability to present such memorable scenes."
—Jill McCorkle, The New York Times Book Review
Praise for Joanne's Non-fiction
"PEN Journeys tells the story of the important organization PEN from the ground and through insightful eyes…and with narrative flair."
—Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran
"This invaluable book shows the range and depth of Liu Xiaobo's interests, concerns, and thoughts. It helps us know this remarkable man intimately."
—Ha Jin, author of Waiting, winner of the National Book Award
Latest Blog Post
The one commonality around the world, in every country, every religion, for every sex, race and culture is the mother. We have fathers too, though paternity is not always as clear. When I travel in different countries and cultures, be it in Africa, Asia, Latin America, in communities whose language I can’t decipher and sometimes without a translator, I can usually communicate with a mother and her child. Even hardened men yielded to a mother. I remember a colleague who was a mediator and also a mother. She was once tasked with retrieving children from a notorious warlord in a country which had recruited and used hundreds of children as soldiers. She told me how she looked into this man’s empty eyes, put her hand on his arm and said in a firm voice, “Give me the children.” He refused…