A Tale of Two Cultures: My third book about Ahmad, a Muslim student, and the Canadian girl he falls in love with. – Blog - Jaclyn Holland-Strauss

The next book I am going to write is going to be on a Middle Eastern student who is torn between a Chinese girl and Canadian girl. He goes to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to go to Saint Mary’s University where he is going to major in Commerce so that he can work for his father in the family business, which is a bakery. His parents are planning on arranging a marriage to a Muslim girl back home, but he resists, because he feels a strange connection to Canadian culture. He wants to marry a Muslim, but falls in love with this Canadian girl. The Chinese girl wants him, though, and is willing to do anything to get him. She manages to keep apart the Muslim and the Christian students, but true love conquers all, and eventually they marry forever.

The Muslim student wants to please his father and the rest of his family, but he also wants to stay in Canada to be with the Christian girl he has fallen in love with. His parents visit Canada several times to try to convince him to go ahead with the arranged marriage so that he does not shame the family, but throughout the book he goes on his own personal journey. By the end of the book, his family also falls in love with the Canadian girl, a student around his age who is also taking Commerce.

The underlying message of the book will be the marriage not only of two people, but of two very different cultures. Although both Ahmad and Mary both believe in God, their specific religious beliefs are different. But they discover more similarities than differences between them, and when they eventually have a child, they plan to let the child choose which religion he or she is going to adopt for their own.

Before Ahmad meets his dream girl, he tries to use the Internet to find a mate. The first girl he falls for while he is a Canadian student is Indian, but it does not work out between them, once he discovers that she is not who he thought she was in terms of values. True love for Ahmad comes only after a while, and once he finds it, he is willing to do anything he has to in order to maintain it forever.

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I am an amphiist, which I define as someone who looks at both sides of issues (it's a Greek word). However, I have my own expanded definition, which means that I believe in three interrelated concepts, which, when taken together, inform an amphiist viewpoint. Abraham Maslow talked about self-actualization, a person reaching their highest potential. Thomas Carlyle discussed natural aristocracy, which is a principle the Founding Fathers created with regard to the United States, that a person did not have to be of royal birth to have merit; it was the content of their character that counted. And scholars Mayer and Salovey came up with the concept of emotional intelligence, an idea popularized by Daniel Goleman. We should have control over our emotions, and see the bigger picture. All of these together make up an amphiist, and I apply this reasoning to politics, entertainment, etc. I defend the oppressed by offering an alternative perspective. I am currently raising funds for publication of an Amphiist newspaper, the primary focus of which will be anti-extremism. We need to find common ground. We need to stop thinking in terms of liberals against conservatives. Right against left. Men against women. One race against another. One religion against another. If you would be interested in contributing, please consider supporting my work at Paypal via jaclyncarter2005@gmail.com.

Agatha Christie is the best-selling single author of all time. She has sold over 4 billion copies to date (they’ve stopped counting!), and has been translated into over 100 languages. She has been outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her influence on the murder mystery genre is still being felt in the 21st century, with authors like RT Raichev, (a recent discovery of mine), frequently featured in Ellery Queen Mystery MagazinAgatha Christie is the best-selling single author of all time. She has sold over 4 billion copies to date (they’ve stopped counting!), and has been translated into over 100 languages. She has been outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her influence on the murder mystery genre is still being felt in the 21st century, with authors like RT Raichev, (a recent discovery of mine), frequently featured in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and who has authored 9 published novels, carrying Agatha Christie’s literary torch. The books under discussion in my own book are The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Peril at End House, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (masterpiece), Evil under the Sun, The Body in the Library, A Murder is Announced, Murder at the Vicarage, The ABC Murders, Death on the Nile and Lord Edgware Dies (the last two of which are my personal favourites).e, and who has authored 9 published novels, carrying Agatha Christie’s literary torch. The books under discussion in my own book are The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Peril at End House, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (masterpiece), Evil under the Sun, The Body in the Library, A Murder is Announced, Murder at the Vicarage, The ABC Murders, Death on the Nile and Lord Edgware Dies (the last two of which are my personal favourites).