The Soldier's House
A Novel
Published on 4. June 2026
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-63628-483-5 (ISBN)
Description
"An unprecedented breakthrough novel about life after war."-Cara Hoffman, author of Running, Be Safe, I Love You and So Much Pretty
"This is not only a massively good book, it is absolutely necessary."-Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, author of The Storyteller of Marrakesh and The Watch
A bold and compassionate novel about war's aftermath, The Soldier's House confronts the uneasy truths of rescue, redemption, and what it means to share a home and future with a former enemy.
In The Soldier's House, Helen Benedict tells the story of an Iraq War veteran who saves the lives of his assassinated Iraqi interpreter's widow, child, and mother by bringing them to his upstate New York home. For the soldier, this is a way of making amends, but the widow finds being rescued by the enemy both humiliating and compromising. This is a compassionate tale that examines whether redemption and forgiveness are even possible in the wake of war. In light of the increasing displacement of people all over the world, The Soldier's House is particularly timely and poignant.
"This is not only a massively good book, it is absolutely necessary."-Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, author of The Storyteller of Marrakesh and The Watch
A bold and compassionate novel about war's aftermath, The Soldier's House confronts the uneasy truths of rescue, redemption, and what it means to share a home and future with a former enemy.
In The Soldier's House, Helen Benedict tells the story of an Iraq War veteran who saves the lives of his assassinated Iraqi interpreter's widow, child, and mother by bringing them to his upstate New York home. For the soldier, this is a way of making amends, but the widow finds being rescued by the enemy both humiliating and compromising. This is a compassionate tale that examines whether redemption and forgiveness are even possible in the wake of war. In light of the increasing displacement of people all over the world, The Soldier's House is particularly timely and poignant.
Reviews / Votes
"The characters' journeys are candid and vulnerable, rendering a pertinent, rich portrait of displaced lives reshaped by conflict and its enduring consequences."-Booklist
"Benedict (Wolf Season) unspools a harrowing story of an Iraqi refugee family's attempts to fit into American society...This chilling tale will stay with readers."
-Publishers Weekly
"Benedict's compassion for her subjects and concern for the suffering of those caught in the crossfire of war foregrounds all of her work... Benedict's time, alas, is now, and we should be thankful we have a writer willing to elucidate the humanity underlying these terrifying topics with such grace and force."
-The Common
"Keen-eyed and warm-hearted, The Soldier's House is a page-turning story of both American and Iraqi lives shattered by America's Iraq War, and the long struggle to rebuild a safe place to call home. Helen Benedict brings years of research to bear in her compassionate, sharply-observed portraits of Army Sergeant Jimmy Donnell; his soldier wife, Kate Brady; and their terrible debt to Naema Al-Jassi, an Iraqi mother, and her captivating young son, Tariq. This moving novel brings to searing life the toll of violence and the balm of healing as these characters make their halting progress toward finding home, toward trust and truth, and building life anew. The Soldier's House is an important novel for our time, adding crucial depth of compassion and complexity to our understanding of war's trauma and the importance of forgiveness and healing."
-Kate Manning, author of My Notorious Life and Gilded Mountain
"An unprecedented breakthrough novel about life after war. Once again Helen Benedict has blazed a trail in this brutal yet compassionate story of deep human perseverance. Compelling and beautifully written, it is one of the most important books Americans could read, not just about the war in Iraq, but about war in general."
-Cara Hoffman, author of Running, Be Safe, I Love You and So Much Pretty
"Writing with rare passion and integrity, Helen Benedict brings to light-and life-the wreckage of the American misadventure in Iraq. This is not only a massively good book, it is absolutely necessary."
-Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, author of The Storyteller of Marrakesh and The Watch
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Pasadena
United States
Product notice
Paper over boards
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
472 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-63628-483-5 (9781636284835)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Helen Benedict has been writing about refugees and war for many years, both in her three most recent novels, The Good Deed, Wolf Season and Sand Queen, and in her 2022 book of nonfiction, Map of Hope & Sorrow: Stories of Refugees Trapped in Greece. A recipient of the PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Literary Oral History, the Ida B. Wells Award for Bravery in Journalism, and the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, Benedict is also the author of The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq. Her writings inspired a class action suit against the Pentagon on behalf of those sexually assaulted in the military and the 2012 Oscar-nominated documentary The Invisible War. She is a professor at Columbia University in New York.